Morning; up at daylight, to the amphitheatre, to see sun rise out of the sea and light up Etna, which was without a cloud. The theatre really a Roman ruin, with bits only of the original Greek; the situation superb.... I climb up to Mola, get a grand study of Etna from height of 1,500-2,000 feet, the clouds keeping off till I had done. Extensive sea and coast view, but haze in the far distance. Descended on to the peak bearing the Saracenic ruins of the Castle of Taormina, overhanging the town; and now, having dined, and found Mrs. G. better, as well as desirous of warmer quarters, we are soon to descend to the shore below us, and take train for Catania. This place is very well worth visiting, and I am glad that I arranged as I did, only sorry that I had to enjoy most of it alone. NAPLES, Tuesday, 30th. Found Catania well worth a visit; had pleasant Easter Sunday, and superb view of Etna, and of its various former doings, sending its lavas down to the sea in a tremendous way. Getting back to Messina, the steamer, a little one, was off Monday afternoon; good parting views of Etna toward evening; an uncomfortable night; we entered the bay at daybreak, and Naples soon after sunrise, and are now domiciled in full view of Vesuvius. TO A. DE CANDOLLE. ROME, April 22, 1869. ... I am thirsty for botanical news, after having laid aside the botanist for a much longer time than ever before. Well, we were three and a half months in Egypt, three months of it on the Nile itself, and we have avoided the chills of winter and had a season of great enjoyment and interest. I passed your friend Professor Marcet in Nubia, but missed visiting his boat, from his sailing under the English flag, but hit upon that of Mr. Naville,[76] whom we saw afterwards at Edfou, and were much pleased with. Botany on the Nile is nearly _nil_, yet I collected a small suite of specimens, as souvenirs. Returning, we had a most uncomfortable passage to Messina.... In Naples and in the charming environs we passed a fortnight and rather more, and have now had a week in Rome. We are just now recovering the mild and charming weather which we left behind in Egypt. We shall stay here, I suppose, only ten days more, make a short stay in Florence, also in Venice, visit the Italian lakes, and, I think, go to Vienna by way of Innsbruck, to be there the first week in June. All else is uncertain, except that we mean to be in Switzerland in July.... * * * * * Dr. Gray said he found more botany in a half day in the desert than in a week in Egypt! A country cultivated for five thousand years had no weeds. There were long walks and occasional excursions in Nubia into the desert when the dahabeah was lying still. TO CHARLES WRIGHT. MUNICH, June 8, 1869.