I heard the following remarkable story when I was at these baths. A man of the place, a soldier named Giuseppe, who is still alive and engaged on one of the penal galleys of Genoa, was captured by the Turks in a sea-fight. To gain his liberty he became a Turk himself, a step which has been taken by divers of the people of these mountains who are still living, was circumcised, and married a wife. Being engaged in a predatory raid on this coast he advanced so far one day that his retreat was cut off, and, together with several other Turks, was captured by the people, who had risen in defence. He at once determined to declare that he had come there in good faith, and that he was a Christian, wherefore a few days later he was set at liberty, and he came to this place to the house in front of my lodgings, where he met his mother. She asked him roughly who he was, and what he wanted, for he was still wearing his sailor’s garb and was a strange object in such a place. Then he made himself known to her, and, after having been as it were lost ten or twelve years, kissed his mother, who shrieked aloud and fell senseless and showed no sign of life until the next day, the physicians being in despair of her. She came round at last, but she died soon afterwards, every one being of the opinion that this shock shortened her life. Giuseppe was made much of by the neighbours, went to church to abjure his errors, received the sacrament from the bishop of Lucca, and took part in divers other ceremonies, but all this was hypocrisy. His heart was still with the Turks, and, in order to rejoin them, he left this place for Venice, whence he gained some Turkish port and once more took to the seas. He was again captured by the Genoese, and, because he was a man of unusual strength and well versed in seafaring, they have kept him ever since in their service, securely fettered on one of their galleys. In this country they keep registered a large number of soldiers taken from the inhabitants for the service of the State. The colonels of this force have no other duties than to drill the men under them frequently, to teach them the use of firearms, and how to skirmish, and other similar exercises. The rank and file are all of this country and receive no pay, but they are allowed to wear armour and to carry arquebuses and whatsoever arms they like: moreover, they are exempt from arrest for debt, and in the time of war are paid. For other duties there are captains, ensigns, and sergeants: only the colonels are paid permanently, and these must needs be men of some other State. Colonel del Borgo, who had visited me the day before, sent to me from his station some four miles distant sixteen lemons and sixteen artichokes.