seated behind, adhering, by some unknown law of adhesion, to the sloping tail.  Then there was the cart drawn by one diminutive donkey, or by an ox, or by an ox and a donkey, or by a donkey and horse abreast, never by any possibility a matched team.  And, funniest of all, was the high, two-wheeled caleche, with one seat, and top thrown back, with long thills and poor horse.  Upon this vehicle were piled, Heaven knows how, behind, before, on the thills, and underneath the high seat, sometimes ten, and not seldom as many as eighteen people, men, women, and children,—­all in flaunting rags, with a colored scarf here and there, or a gay petticoat, or a scarlet cap,—­perhaps a priest, with broad black hat, in the center,—­driving along like a comet, the poor horse in a gallop, the bells on his ornamented saddle merrily jingling, and the whole load in a roar of merriment.

But we shall never get to Vesuvius at this rate.  I will not even stop to examine the macaroni manufactories on the road.  The long strips of it were hung out on poles to dry in the streets, and to get a rich color from the dirt and dust, to say nothing of its contact with the filthy people who were making it.  I am very fond of macaroni.  At Resina we take horses for the ascent.  We had sent ahead for a guide and horses for our party of ten; but we found besides, I should think, pretty nearly the entire population of the locality awaiting us, not to count the importunate beggars, the hags, male and female, and the ordinary loafers of the place.  We were besieged to take this and that horse or mule, to buy walking-sticks for the climb, to purchase lava cut into charms, and veritable ancient coins, and dug-up cameos, all manufactured for the demand.  One wanted to hold the horse, or to lead it, to carry a shawl, or to show the way.  In the midst of infinite clamor and noise, we at last got mounted, and, turning into a narrow lane between high walls, began the ascent, our cavalcade attended by a procession of rags and wretchedness up through the village.  Some of them fell off as we rose among the vineyards, and they found us proof against begging; but several accompanied us all day, hoping that, in some unguarded moment, they could do us some slight service, and so establish a claim on us.  Among these I noticed some stout fellows with short ropes, with which they intended to assist us up the steeps.  If I looked away an instant, some urchin would seize my horse’s bridle; and when I carelessly let my stick fall on his hand, in token for him to let go, he would fall back with an injured look, and grasp the tail, from which I could only loosen him by swinging my staff and preparing to break his head.