362

BARBARY CORSAIR-BARLETTA.

that they found our sentinels on their post. About noon next day the wind became favourable and we again set sail. Early on the following morning we passed the towers of Bari, "Bari moenia piscosi," as noted in modern as it was in ancient times for the excellence and abundance of its fish it was interesting to observe a corroboration of Horace's account, in several little fleets of fishing boats, which we saw spreading their sails and steering for their respective stations. Between this place and Barletta we had a narrow escape from being captured by an Algerine xebec, which we descried in the distant horizon as it often happens in these seas, she was becalmed, whilst we enjoyed a breeze that carried us at the rate of six or seven knots an hour. During our residence in the lazaretto we heard that she engaged and took a large Austrian merchantman from Trieste on this very day, and afterwards threw the whole coast of Apulia into consternation and misery by capturing a great quantity of fishing boats and carrying off the crews into captivity.

On the 9th of June we entered into the lazaretto of Barletta to perform a vexatious quarantine of forty days; as if one-third of that time were not more than sufficient to discover any lurking symptoms of the plague! At any other time than this we might have cut off twothirds of our imprisonment by bribing the officers: but they happened just now to be under prosecution for an offence of this kind, in which they had been detected, and we were therefore doomed to undergo the full term allotted us. To shew however the insufficiency of quarantine laws in general, to prevent infection, I need only mention that many persons connected with the lazaretto freely associated with us, and some of them frequently dined at our table. It will be readily believed that time hung heavy enough upon our hands in this detestable prison as soon as the view of Mount Garganus, stretching his huge promontory into the Adriatic surge, lost its interest with its novelty; whilst the sound of distant merriment, proceeding from festivals during the delicious evenings of an Italian summer, served but to tantalize

RELEASE FROM QUARANTINE.

363 and remind us of our loss of liberty. We had no reason however to complain of any want of civility in the officers of the lazaretto or the inhabitants of the town, several of whom sent us occasional presents of fruit, wine, curds, and various other delicacies. At length, after we had seen all the Neapolitan troops from Corfu perform their quarantine and depart, read through the entire works of Horace in his native province, viewed a tremendous thunder storm amidst the Daunian mountains, and a grand festival celebrated in honour of the Neptunian Nicolo in the harbour, we were released on the thirtyfourth day of our confinement, by an order from Naples under sign manual of the Duca di Gallo, to whom we addressed a memorial as soon as we knew that the quarantine of the soldiers, who came from the same quarter of the world as ourselves, was intended to be shortened.

Release from Quarantine-Description of Barletta-Excursion to the Site of Canna-Cannosa-Church of St. Sabinus-Sepulchre of Bohemond-Ancient Tomb, Armour, and Vases discovered in an ExcavationCurious Mistake made by the Author and his Friend-Departure for Naples-Banditti--Ponte di Bovino--Settlements of Albanians--Naples-Rome-Florence-Passage over the Alps-Lyons-ParisArrival in England-Conclusion.

ON the morning of our exit from the lazaretto we were entertained at a very elegant dejeuné by an Italian gentleman who had shewn us many civilities during our confinement. We afterwards made an excursion round the fortifications and visited every thing worthy of observation within the city, which is extremely well built, though it has a decayed and desolate appearance. The monarchs of the House of Arragon once made this their place of residence to secure the allegiance of the province of Apulia, and Ferdinand I. caused himself to be crowned in its cathedral. Its name is said to be derived from bariletta, a little barrel, painted upon the sign-board of a solitary tavern or wine-house upon the high road, whither inhabitants resorted and laid

DESCRIPTION OF BARLETTA.

$65

the foundations of a city after the ruin of Cannæ and Cannosa, two large towns in the vicinity. The principal curiosity of Barletta is a bronze statue of colossal size, being more than seventeen feet in height, erected in the piazza or market-place, and supposed to represent the Emperor Heraclius. It is in a standing posture, attired in the paludamentum or military cloak, and crowned with a diadem; the right hand is raised above the head and holds a crucifix, whilst the folds of the cloak, drawn across the breast, are thrown over the left arm: the execution is above mediocrity. The ship which is said to been conveying this image as a dedicatory offering to Saint Michael on his own Mount Garganus, was cast away opposite Barletta, and the statue lay for the space of nearly nine centuries buried in the sands, whence it was at last dug up in the year 1491 and fixed on its present site. Having roamed about the town with all the delight of newly acquired liberty, we adjourned in the evening to a conversazione at the house of Signore Cassiero our banker, a very worthy man, who lamented to us in bitter terms the absence of their lawful sovereign from his Neapolitan realms. No parties except those who held offices under government seemed to relish the dominion of King Joachim.

Next day we hired a carriage and made an excursion into the country, accompanied by Signore Giovanni Millar captain of the port, the governor of the lazaretto, and another Italian gentleman. Proceeding through the vineyards for a few miles north we arrived at the mouth of the Anfidus, now called Ofanto, celebrated by the pen of Horace, and the only river which flows through the Apennines, since it takes its rise on the side next the Etruscan Sea, but falls into the Adriatic*. Deflecting thence to the left we soon arrived at the site of Cannæ,"busto insignes nominis Romani," of which little now is left except its name. This city assumed some consequence in the early ages of Christianity, when it was made an episcopal see. It had fre

Polyb. 1. iii. c. 110.

366

EXCURSION TO THE SITE OF CANNE.

quent litigations with Barletta on account of their intervening territories; but these were decided by a partition of lands in 1284 by Charles I. Its ruin and abandonment took place about the time of the crusades, when the advantages of a maritime situation drew the inhabitants of the inland towns to the sea shore.

The first traces we discovered of Cannæ were a few subterranean reservoirs half full of water, by the road side, after which we soon arrived at the vaulted edifice represented in the plate, which is here given. It is built like all the ancient edifices and city walls which we saw on this coast, with oblong blocks of stone, scarcely equalling in size one-third of those generally employed on similar buildings in Grecia Propria: at the further end is a marble trough, which receives a copious discharge of transparent water.

This building is situated just below the eminence, or rising ground, upon which Canna was placed; thither we ascended and found all vestiges of that city obliterated by the ploughshare, except part of one solitary entrance into some public or private edifice. From hence there is a very extensive view over the fatal plain, or pezzo di sangue,