[12] The writer kept up his mendicant corps until he left Sorrento, there being no less than ninty-six paraded in the court the day he departed. Many of these poor people came ten miles! Some of them, he was told, passed the last week of his residence in Sorrento, in order to receive the pittance more at their ease. LETTER XV. Aquatic Excursions.--The weather.--Voyage of St. Paul.--Shore of Baiæ.--The Solfatara.--Relics of Antiquity.--Shores of Avernus.--The Sibyl’s Cave.--Ischia.--Fairy Scene.--Italian Nature.--Our Villa.--Procida.--Elysian Fields.--Roman Remains.--Sail for Pausilippo. Our aquatic excursions have extended, by this time, to the whole coast of the bay. We have visited all the islands, and nearly every object of interest, from Ischia to Capri. As some of the pictures may amuse you, we will make a short cruise in company over the same ground. We embarked at the _Marina Grande_, in _La Divina Providenza_, with our twenty-one oars (the odd one falling to the share of the padrone), and your humble servant at the helm. The day had just opened, and the bay was radiant, while all the mountains stood out distinct and clear. This was a sign of northerly weather, and of a pure sky. We had now been more than a month on the bay, and scarcely a drop of rain had fallen. At our first arrival, we had frequently distrusted the day; but our acquaintances laughed at the omens, and told us to go forth in security, on occasions when I should have expected a thunder-shower. The advice is good, and in no instance have we suffered. As the season advances, however, we perceive symptoms of change, and we are told that, ere long, we shall see rain. Our boatmen made the water foam, and we soon saw the dark pile of Capri looking out from behind the western headland, and the shore of Massa. When one is at Naples, this fine island appears to lie directly in the mouth of the bay; but, in fact, it is posted, like a sentinel, at one of its corners, and Ischia is at the other.