It will be readily understood that the cattle, whether horned beasts or horses, which wander from pasture to pasture over the vast extent of the Campagna are liable to stray occasionally, and perhaps to become mingled with the herds belonging to another proprietor.  It is necessary, therefore, that they should be marked; and this marking is the occasion of a great and very remarkable festival and solemnity.  It is called La Merca, which is a Romanism for La Marca, the “mark” or “marking” of the cattle.  This operation takes place in the spring, generally in May; and the mercante di campagna whose herds of horned cattle, oxen, cows and buffaloes and droves of horses are to be marked on a settled day invites all his friends and acquaintance to come and see the operation.  From what has already been said of the social habits and status of the persons occupying that position, it will be readily imagined that the company thus called together is often a very numerous and sufficiently brilliant one.  A good half of the assemblage will in all probability belong to the more ornamental sex.  A liberally supplied picnic luncheon will not fail to complete the pleasures of the day; and altogether the festival of the merca of such or such a year will probably remain as an epoch in the memories of many of those invited to be present.  The carriages, the horses, the light country gigs and conveyances of all kinds must be ordered early in the pleasant May morning, for a drive (or ride) of several miles across the Campagna is before us, and perhaps before the spot appointed for the business in hand is reached a scramble across a mile or so of open rolling ground impracticable for wheels.  But nothing can be more lovely than the views of the hills around Rome in the fresh early hours of a May morning.  Even the melancholy Campagna puts on a look of brightness and smiles a pale smile for the nonce.  We soon overtake or are overtaken by other parties bound for the same destination.  All are chatting and laughing in high good spirits, for the spectacle that awaits us is a favorite one with the Roman dames and their attendant squires.  There are very few, if any, foreigners among the invited, partly because it hardly comes in their way to hear anything about the merca and its specialties, or to make the acquaintance of the hosts upon such occasions; partly and mainly perhaps because they have almost all of them left Rome for the summer before the season for these rural festivals commences.

At length we reach the ground.  A large hollow in the undulating surface of the Campagna, surrounded in great part by a steeply rising bank, has been chosen as the scene of operations, in order to afford as much vantage-ground as may be for the spectators.  But other accommodation than such as is afforded by Nature has been provided.  A range of seats of rough planks, something in the form of the grand stand on a race-course, has been erected by the hospitable