Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/422

438 houses. The valley of Lucerna is also beautiful and fertile, but is narrower than that of Angrogna. The valley of Bora derives its principal revenues from its stone-quarries. That which is most worthy of notice in the valley of San Martino, seems to me to be the rock of La Basiglia, as well as the large white and red block of marble over which rush the rapid water of the Germanasco. A very fragrant lavender grows wild upon the steep side of the valley, and is used by the inhabitants for the distillation of perfumed water.

The inhabitants of these valleys are, in a high degree, both, a moral and a good-tempered people. The spirit of mutual helpfulness is one of their chief virtues. No one is sick, no woman gives birth to a child, without being visited by their female neighbors, who on such occasions always carry with them wheaten bread or flour for polenta, or oil for the night-lamp. Mlle. M. told me that she, more than once, has seen a housewife deprive herself of her portion of soup, in order that she might take it to a neighbor in want.

“I have myself done so,” she said; “I know how it feels!”

The people are poor; the population, at the present time, amounts to about twenty-five thousand souls, but their great frugality prevents the existence of any bitter sense of poverty. Polenta and chestnuts arc the principal food, and both are very palatable. Polenta is a kind of porridge made from maize, eaten with milk, and even in coffee and milk. Chestnuts are dried and smoked, and thus keep good the whole