CHAPTER VI.

The Falls of Terni-Passigno-Peasants of Terni-The Nera-The Plain of Terni-Narnia-Otriculum-Borghetto-Volcanic Earth -Civita Castellana-Soracte-Nepi-First Glance at St. Peter's, Rome.

We reached Terni about half past eleven on Saturday, and set off immediately for the falls. The ride itself is worth going miles to enjoy. Turning your back upon the plain of Terni, you ascend Mount St. Angelo by a terrific terraceroad overhanging the Nera, into which the Velino falls; and, after soaring with the eagles for five miles, you suddenly hear the

"Roar of waters! from the headlong height
Velino cleaves the wave-worn precipice;
The fall of waters rapid as the light,

The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss."

A brilliant rainbow magnificently circled its foaming surges, which added beauty to the exquisite foliage by which it is crowned. The excessive softness spread over the scene by the rising spray, the depth and colour of the rocks, leave nothing to be desired but to “ leave one's eyes behind to

view it still." The fame of these waters seemed well known to Virgil, as he makes his goddess of Discord blow,

"Till the sacred Lake of Trivia, from afar the Veline fountain, And sulphureous Nar, shake at the baleful blast.”

The lake through which the Velino flows is often raised by the melting snows of the mountains, and has caused amaz

ing devastation. We drove on about a mile and a half to the borders of the lake, and longed to cross its green waters to trace up to its source the curious stream. It takes its rise on an Apennine near Torrita, (on one of those peaks from whence rivers flow into the Adriatic and the Mediterranean,) and runs through the valley of Falacrina, at the foot of Monte Terminello, from whence it receives the mineral waters of the valley of Cutilva. It is a very curious region: we were told that the caverns of Monte Terminello keep in solution the carbonated lime by the quantity of acid gas exhaled from them; the soil of the whole region is exceedingly porous, and everywhere (it is said) may be heard the noise of the various ebullitions which occasion the unpleasant smell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The peasants add that death is the consequence of entrance into these caverns. On every side the scene is beautiful, and the valley leading down to Rieti is considered the Tempé of Italy. Before we left, the deepest rose was painting the wide spread snows of the surrounding Apennines. Again and again have the waters of the Velino overflowed the valleys of Rieti and Terni-the Romans and Rietines were continually disputing who should remedy the evil, as the waters flowed with the Nera into the Tiber. After various experiments with conduits, &c., they have cut right through the rock, and given copious vent to the roaring flood, and sent the whole river down to its present gulph. It is very curious walking over the ground, intersected in every direction by channels, formed by concretions of lime, and over arches, which, by the waters bringing with them sediment, continually form fresh incrustations. Having fully gratified our curiosity at the Upper Falls, we drove back for about three miles, and then turned on the right to a little village called Passigno, pret

FALLS OF TERNI.

61 tily situated on a knoll rising abruptly from the banks of the Nera. Walking down the rock, we crossed this rapid stream, and proceeded along its banks through rows of orange-trees, the first we had seen growing nobly in Umbria. At a palace on our left, our unhappy Queen Caroline passed six or seven days. The impetuous Nera, the wild broken rocks, and the sound of the distracted waters, with the crumbling path that leads to the fall, rendered our walk very interesting, till we came all at once opposite to the whole cascade. It is perfect-imagination can add no beauty. As we sat under a bower, formed of the branches of fresh birch, a poor Italian presented his petition. At every beauteous spot in Italy, want mingles its accents, and withdraws the mind from the vague voice of nature, to the real and unequivocally expressed wants of man.

The whole height of the "Caduta delle Marmore" is now before you; and you see it pouring down in three principal streams, and then, breaking finely over its selfformed rocks, it mingles with the Nera. At a short distance from the fall is a "Ponte antico trovato sotto le Tartarizazi;" one over which the rock is formed in stratified circles, and umbrella shapes.

On our return we followed a number of females, who had been down to the stream for water: they were singing most merrily, and had very elegant jars on their heads. A large linen, edged with lace, and doubled back, so as to lie square over their foreheads, and to reach down to their shoulders behind, gave a very graceful and antique effect. They were beautiful girls; but we soon discovered that they were none of Dian's nymphs.

As we drove to Terni we kept looking back upon the

Apennines, which had received a tint so deep, that it must be seen to be conceived-almost a crimson hue. On rising in the morning, we recollected that we were in the ancient Interamna, the birth-place of Tacitus the historian, and surrounded by ruins of temples and amphitheatres, and monuments of ancient grandeur; but of these we saw none: for ONE, with whom the earth is a very little thing, now claimed our thoughts-He, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! but oh! how imperfectly worshipped, amidst the din of the drum of the mountebank, (a woman turning head over heels,) and the cries of a public market.

Early on Monday we left Terni; we were amused to see the men with their large full cloaks; the right corner turned over the left shoulder, presenting exactly the costume of the old Roman toga, and the women universally in scarlet jackets trimmed with gold, and square head-dresses, trimmed with lace, or worked so as to imitate it.

The plain of Terni, like all the other valleys of these regions, is covered with vines, olive, and fruit-trees. The oxen were again yoked to the carriage, and we were dragged up the hill of Narni. From its summit the course of the Nera is seen, in a deep bed; its banks broken into a thousand massive forms, whilst the tracery of every species of vegetation threw a mantle of beauty over the whole.

This ancient Narnia, mentioned by Pliny, presents many remains, besides a curious bridge of the time of Augustus, and an aqueduct of fifteen miles in length. The people are in excellent keeping with the place, which looks as if it had not only been ravaged by the moderns (for it was unhappily pillaged by the Venetians in their way to join Charles

V., who was besieging St. Angelo) but by all the Goths and Vandals that ever marched to Rome.

Continuing our route through a wild yet woody strait, we descended to Otriculi, the ancient Otriculum. It is situated on a hill and commands a very extensive view of the Tiber. We seated ourselves on a stone, covered with the moss of ages, looking down upon the whole Sabine territory, and the dull yellow waters beneath. Behind us was a prodigious stone which, from its appearance, we fancied sacrificial. Near a convent, on the neighbouring height, I saw several heathen altars, with the ox-head at their corners, and various heathen remains; these stand, mixed in with monasteries, and all sorts of modern superstitious relics. Oh that He who commanded "the light to shine out of darkness," would shine into the hearts of the poor devotees here, to give them the "Light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ!"

On the night previous to our arrival, three culprits made a large hole in the wall of the old castle here, which is used as a prison, and were somewhere about in the woods. This was not very gratifying intelligence; but the brigands did not make their appearance. We saw various ruins along the banks of the Tiber; all spoke of the past—all of the ravages of time. How happy is the believer in Jesus, who can say, in the beautiful language of Milton—

"Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race:

Call on the lazy, leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace ;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross;
So little is our loss;

So little is thy gain!