On the Wednesday after dinner I travelled through a fertile open country of a varied character, and after a journey of fifteen miles I arrived at Ancona in time for supper. Ancona is the capital of the Marches, which district was called by the Latins _Picænum_. The city is populous, swarming especially with Greeks, Turks, and Sclavonians, and a busy place of traffic. It is well built, flanked on either side by lofty hills, which project into the sea, one of these being occupied by a strong fort, by which we entered, and the other by a church. Between these heights and the slopes thereof the town is built, the main part being placed in the bottom of the valley and along by the sea, where there is a very fine port, and near thereto a magnificent arch built in honour of the Emperor Trajan, his wife, and his sister. The sea passage over into Sclavonia is often made in eight, ten, or twelve hours, and I believe that for six crowns, or a little more, I might have hired a bark to take me to Venice. I paid thirty-three pistoles for the hire of eight horses as far as Lucca, eight days’ journey, the _vetturino_ agreeing to feed the horses and to give me the use of the same for four or five days in addition, if necessary, provided I should pay the outlay on the horses and servants. I saw many setting dogs in this country, and could have bought one for six crowns. I never ate so many quails before, albeit they were very lean. I put off my departure on the 27th until after dinner, in order to enjoy the beautiful prospect of the town and its situation. At S. Ciriaco,[1] the church placed on one of the hills before-named, there are more famous relics than in any other church in the world, but these were not exhibited. We had it from the people here that the quails fly over hither in great numbers from Sclavonia, and that nets are set for them every night on the shore, the hunters luring them on by imitating their cry and calling them down from their high flight in the air. It is said, moreover, that in September they return to Sclavonia. During the night I heard cannon shots in the Abruzzi, which is in the kingdom of Naples, and from parts yet more remote. All along the coast towers are built a league distant one from the other, and whenever any sentinel espies a pirate ship he gives warning by firing a gun to the tower next to him. So rapidly is intelligence sped by this method that it has been found that word may be passed from the extreme point of Italy to Venice in an hour.