And yet we as much affect the inland walks, as this lazy navigation. Our excursions are of two sorts, which may be divided into the “donkey” and the “non-donkey,” In the “non-donkey,” we roam over the hills near the town, which are covered with fruit-trees, and are intersected with paths, the kind and gentle peasants smiling as we pass, never offering rudeness of any sort. There is a spot called _Capo di Monte_, a term that always designates the best look-out of a neighbourhood, from which I think one finds the prettiest bit of scenery, in its way, I have ever met with; nor do I remember any picture that surpasses it. The landings on this coast are necessarily made on some small beach, or at a ravine which admits of an ascent to the plain, or _piano_, above. At Sorrento there are two, the “large” and the “little” landing.[11] The latter is in the heart of the town, and has a sort of wharf, at which one can embark in smooth water. This is the port of the _Divina Providenza_, but all the craft, big and little, are hauled on the beach at night; the other is a crescent of sandy beach, lined the whole distance with the houses of fishermen. It is at the verge of the town and without its walls, extending to the mountain, which here juts out into a low promontory, forming a protection against the sea. The _Capo di Monte_ is so placed as to have this landing for its foreground. The view of the beach strewed with crafts of different sizes, including boats, to the number of a hundred, the domestic groups between them and the houses, the children sporting on the sands, the costumes and flaring colours of the female dresses, with nets spread to dry, and all the other little accessories of such a spot that you can so readily imagine, make a perfect Flemish picture. The men usually have a shirt and loose trowsers that descend but little below the knee; and they wear a Phrygian cap, that is oftener red than any other colour. The pleasure of a residence in such a spot is enhanced by the circumstance that, on the continent of Europe generally, the inhabitants of these country towns, though they are often large, seldom affect the airs of a capital, but are mere assemblages of rustics and not children in wigs and hoops, like those of our own small places. Here, the distinctions between a capital, a country town, a village, and a hamlet, are all freely acknowledged and maintained; but the aspiring qualities of our population will not submit to this. The great number of beggars that torment one like gnats was at first a drawback on our pleasures. It was no unusual thing to have a dozen of them in chase; and, if unprovided with change, we were often harassed by them until we returned to our own gate: for the poor Neapolitans, unlike the beggars of Paris, are not often provided with change. We have got relieved from them, however, by mere accident; and as the incident is characteristic, it is worth mentioning.