The houses on each side were divided only by
a pace or two, and communicated with one another, here and there, by
arched passages. They looked very ancient, and may have been inhabited
by Etruscan princes, judging from the massiveness of some of the
foundation stones. The present inhabitants, nevertheless, are by no
means princely,--shabby men, and the careworn wives and mothers of the
people,--one of whom was guiding a child in leading-strings through these
antique alleys, where hundreds of generations have trod before those
little feet. Finally we came out through a gateway, the same gateway at
which we entered last night.
I ought to have mentioned, in the narrative of yesterday, that we crossed
the Tiber shortly before reaching Perugia, already a broad and rapid
stream, and already distinguished by the same turbid and mud-puddly
quality of water that we see in it at Rome. I think it will never be so
disagreeable to me hereafter, now that I find this turbidness to be its
native color, and not (like that of the Thames) accruing from city sewers
or any impurities of the lowlands.
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