Here I made special note of three things. First, to see the people of these parts harvesting grain, or threshing, or sewing, or spinning on a Sunday. Second, to see the peasants with lutes in their hands, and even the pastoral songs of Ariosto on their lips--which thing indeed may be observed all through Italy. Third, to see how these people will leave the grain lying in the fields for ten or fifteen days after it is cut--or even longer--without fear of being robbed by the neighbours. We travelled in the evening dusk for twenty miles as far as Scala. Here we could only get lodging, which was very good. I took no supper, as I was troubled with toothache on the right side, an ailment which often comes with my headaches. I felt it especially when I was eating, as every bite caused me the sharpest pain. On the morning of Monday, July 3, we followed the level road beside the Arno, which led us to a fertile plain, covered with corn, and at midday, after riding twenty miles, came to Pisa. XII PISA This city is under the Grand Duke of Florence, and stands on the plain of the Arno, which runs through the middle of it and enters the sea six miles farther on. By it ships of divers sorts can reach Pisa. The University was now closed, as it always is during the three hot months, but we found there a company of very good players, the Disiosi. The hotel was not to my liking, wherefore I hired a house with four rooms and one _salle_. The landlord did the cooking and provided furniture; an excellent house and all for eight crowns a month. But because the provision of table linen which he promised to make was very scanty (and in Italy they hardly ever change the napkins save when they change the tablecloth, which is done twice a week), we let our servants buy some more. At the inn we had paid four julli a day.[72] This house was in a most pleasant situation, commanding a delightful prospect right over the channel through which the Arno flows. This channel is very wide and more than five hundred paces in length, slightly curved, and offering a charming object to the view, the bend aforesaid allowing the spectator to see easily both ends of the channel, full of merchant shipping and crossed by three bridges. The quays on either side are of fine masonry, with supports to the very top, like those on the Quai des Augustines at Paris, with wide streets, at the side of which are rows of houses, one of which is the one I hired.