Morning journal and courier., 1885-09-30

l ali directions. Prominent among the eity's 1 approaches was the T1berftself, which is now i of little use as medium of communication, \ but was formerly navigable for sea-going vessels. The destruction of the mountain forests is supposed to have been the main cause of the deterioration of this great river. Surrounded on all sides by a broad plain I now called the Campagna, the city was more over easily accessible by land. At one time the wall. which now has twelve gates, was pierced by thirty-seven, from which twenty eight high roads diverged to every point of the compass. All these roads, and particu- larly the Via Appia Appian way, were masterpieces of construction, fit to serve as
 models in our own day, excepting in the one matter of breadth. According to modern
 ideas they would all seem too narrow. But many of them are in to this day, with
 the Identical paving stones originally laid down, which have sustained the weight and friction of eighteen centuries and are appa- rentiy good for eighteen more, so metallic in
 it's hardness is the volcanic rock of the Jani-
 culan and Alban hills
 The Campagna is the name given to the plain surrounding Rome, extending along the
 west coast from Civita Vecchia to Astura and
 the Pontine marshes, and inland to the Al ban and Sabine hills, Rome being near its
 center. It is tract about seventy miles
 long and forty broad. It's surface is undula-
 ting and rises in spots two hundred feet
 above the sea. Once the richest and most
 populous country in the world, it is now des-
 titute of inhabitants except in few small
 towns scattered over it's surface, to which
 the feld-laborers resort at night to avoid the
 effects of malaria. This malaria seems to
 have been unknown or of small consequence
 in the earliest times in Italy, but has gradu-
 ally arisen and increased until it is serious
 matter in some localities. Formerly Rome
 itself suffered greatly from it, but since the
 introduction of modern sanitary improve
 ments and the recent building-up of many of
 the waste places, 1t has become almost en-
 ttrely free from the scourge, except in parts of August and September. Through the
 vast plain the Fiber and several smaller streams flow onward, at times peacefully, and at times unanimously. Every few years
 freshet of extraordinary dimensions occurs ! 1 was fortunate enough to see the great fresh | ct of 1878, when the Fiber overhowed the l
 whole country around and below Rome,
 placing half the Campagna under water, and making lake as large as Winnipesaukee or Champlain. In it's contracted passage through the city the swollen river raved and
 ragged like tornado, and nearly engulfed several blocks on either bank, rising in some cases to the second story windows, and Ten dering communication between the two parts of the city impossible for week or two. These periodic inundations, however, are not an unmixed evil. They enrich the soil, and do little permanent damage, as there are very few habitations of any sort along the track of the river outside of the towns.
 In very early times, indeed, the Campagna
 was in a chronic state of submergence. For
 ages it was covered by the sea, and it was at
 length thrown up by volcanic action to its l
 present level. Lava and red volcanic tufa are to be found everywhere within it's limits. In general it has a wild and desolate appear ance, and serves as the feeding ground of many cattle, which with their herders form i picturesque groups here and there. Origi- ! nal1y, this now nearly deserted waste was the ! seat of the greatest temporal power known | to history. Here Latium, the home of | the nation which conquered the whole world. ! Millions of people dwelt on this Campagna, along which you can now walk for miles | without passing a single house or seeing 8 | living being except a few oxen and peasants. | The whole district is packed full of ruins, | which all that is left of once populous ! towns. Wherever you may walk you stum- l ble on half-buried tonlbs, walls and grass grown heaps of stones. The cause of this ! great change is two-fold, being due partly to | the fall and dispersion of the Roman empire, and partly to the ravages of the malarial fe- ! yer already alluded to. The fever itself is | accounted for by historians and philosophers | thus: The independent agricultural popula- ! tlon of early times gradually crowded | out by rich proprietors, who bought up large tracts and converted them into private es- tates. This resulted in the neglect of wide expanses of land which had been previously subjected to constant cultivation, and nu- merous pools of stagnant water were permit ! ted to gather in the furrows of the soil. In the middle ages, and later, the papal govern ! ment made many attempts to drain and re- ! claim the Campagna; but measures to- ward this end can be successful so long as the land is tied up, as it has been for centu- rigs, ill the hands of few selfish and unen- terprising proprietors. About one-half of l the Carpagna belongs to ecclesiastical cor porations, and two-thirds of the remainder to the nobility. Only about one-sixsh is owned by small proprietors, and not more than one-twelfth is under proper cultivation. The neighborhood of Rome therefore, is ma- l larial, without doubt, but the city itself, ! with its clean streets and excellent system of l drainage, already said, is as healthy as can be, and all that one need do in Rome to ! keep well is to dress warmly in summer as ! we'll as in winter. Clad properly in flannel, he can roam around the streets at night as much as he pleases and watch the effect of on the Coliseum to his hearts content.
 There are multitude of points of special interest on the Campagna, which are much resorted to by tourists and antiquarians, but l all of them, we'll as the abundant "sights' of Rome itself, have been described often enough already by other pens. The long lines of squeducts, however, may be alluded to in passing, as bearing on the special topic of this letter, because, although some of them are older than the Christian era, they are still used to some extent in conducting to the city from the Sabine hills the finest and parest supply of water enjoyed by any city in the world and thereby contributing to the health of the community.
 It may be said in closing that the most l prominent object in the Campagna, viewed from whatever standpoint or distance, is the grand dome of St. Peters, which seems to the approaching traveller to spring out of the plain, solitary and alone, and snchants the eye by it's grandeur and beauty long before any other signs of the existence of city whereabouts are discernible. Every time I revisit Rome am confirmed in the opinion that St. Peters, taking all things into con- is the noblest architectural work of human hands-the outward embodiment of the vigor, cohesion and endurance of that church to which Macaulay unwillingly paid his celebrated tribute: tShe saw the com mencenent of all the governments, and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all She was great and respected be- fore the Saxon had set foot on Britain-be fore the Frank had passed the Rhine-when Grecian eloquence still fourished at Antioch when idols were still worshipped in the undiminished vigor when some traveller vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Pauls." c. s. E.
 The Puritan.