so great is the jealousy of this government, in matters of revenue, that every spot at which a boat can throw its crew ashore is closely watched. At the _Scaricatòjo_, we took a small boat with a pair of oars, and launched upon the water, bound to Amalfi, which lies some six or eight miles further up the gulf towards Salerno. Our party consisted of five; and these, with the two oars, gave us more freight than would have been agreeable in a blow; but fortunately there was scarcely any air, though the cradle of old Neptune was lazily rocking, as it is ever known to be, gale or calm. Occasionally, as we rounded the cliffs, the scend of the sea would carry us close in, giving us the appearance of one of the bubbles, though in fact there was no risk. I had often rowed under mountains, in Switzerland, though not often so immediately beneath rocks of the same elevation for some of the peaks between Amalfi and the _Scaricatòjo_ are said to be six thousand feet high. This is almost equal to Mount Washington, and all, too, in the distance of a mile, or even less, of base. In Switzerland, certainly, one sees cottages, and even churches, convents, and châteaux, on the spurs of mountains; but I do not remember to have ever met with habitations of the same pretension so crowded on rocks so nearly perpendicular, as was the case to-day, a few miles before we reached Amalfi. Some of the country-houses seemed to us, who were floating beneath, to be absolutely stuck against the rocks; though I dare say there was ample room for safety, and even for gardens. Just before reaching the town, a convent appeared built _into_ the cliffs, in a most picturesque manner, the wall of rock rising above the buildings half way to the clouds. Amalfi is in a sort of a gorge, and certainly has as few commercial facilities, in the way of a port, as any ordinary mile of sea beach. Beach it has, and that in a region like this, is distinction enough to form a town; for the light craft most in use by the ancients could be hauled on it, an effectual mode of security. I never before witnessed a scene of wrangling, begging, vociferations, and rapacity, equal to that which followed our landing on the beach of Amalfi. Men, women, and children beset us in schulls, particularly the two latter, until we were compelled to use strong measures to get rid of them.