One of the exploits of the Camorristi reminds
us of the story of All Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Two individuals having the appearance of workmen
presented themselves at the mansion of the
Marquis X., carrying a piano. They were told
that the marquis had gone into the country;
but the porter said that they might take the
piano up-stairs, and place it in the apartment
for which it was designed. This was done, and
the two workmen left. In the evening, an
inmate of the house went down to the porter, and
asked him whether the marquis had returned
from the country? The man replied in the negative;
whereupon the other said that he had
heard persons moving about in the marquis's
private room. The two went up-stairs, and
found several thieves at work; and the mystery
as to how they had got in, was thus explained:—
One of the nobleman's servants belonged to the
society of the Camorra; and, having communicated
with his associates, they placed in the
piano one of their comrades, who afterwards
admitted the rest.

As might be expected, ignorance, prejudice,
and superstition, darken the minds of the
Neapolitans to a lamentable degree. In the land of
San Gennaro, the saints are worshipped with
extravagant devotion, varied at times with
downright abuse when they do not perform all
that is required of them. The fisherman will
not put to sea should a gust of wind quench the
light of the oil-lamp burning before the
Madonna of the house; the lazzarone pauses in
unreasoning dread at the door of the wine-shop, if
a dog and a cat are fighting there together; and
all classes stand in awe of the Evil Eye. This
last-named superstition is one of the most widely
diffused in the world. It is found in the
extreme north of Europe, and among the Oriental
races, as readers of Beckford's Vathek are
aware; but in Naples it is extremely
prevalent. Even the educated believe in this
occult and malignant influence; and those who
have the unlucky credit of exercising it are
universally shunned The power is thought to be
transmitted in some families from generation to
generation. The late King Ferdinand, with the
weakness of mind which commonly accompanies
cruelty, was a firm believer in this superstition,
and refused to receive at the palace any one, no
matter how high his rank, who had the reputation
of being a Jettatore, as these suspected
persons are called. One day, however, a prince
who was popularly accused of possessing the
Evil Eye got admission to a royal ball at Caserta.
Every one fled from his presence; and, as the
king was talking to him, a large chandelier
almost over their heads fell from its fastenings,
and severely injured some of the guests. The
unfortunate prince was of course never allowed
to come near the court again, and was even
shunned by his most intimate friends.

Yet, with all these bad characteristics, there
are many excellent elements in the Neapolitans.
Count Arrivabene says that they are quick,
sharp, and intelligent, and that "they possess
much goodness of heart and a generosity which
only requires training. He believes that they
will form valuable members of the Italian
family as soon as they have been educated to their
new destinies; and he records that improvements
have already taken place. In talking of the
Neapolitans, we are too apt to think only of the
people belonging to the metropolis, who,
corrupted by the example of a bad court, and the
opportunities for vicious indulgence which a
large and pleasure-loving city affords, are not
the best specimens of the race. Amongst the
mountains of Calabria are to be found a
community, not indeed highly civilised, but
possessing many of the virtues of simple and
primitive populations. The people of that
province are brave and hospitable, and furnished
Garibaldi with some excellent volunteers after
he had crossed the Straits from Sicily. The
gentry place their mansions at the disposal of any
visitor who brings a letter of introduction; and
on leaving one house, if the guest should be a
traveller, he is furnished by the host with a letter
to the master of some other house in the town or
village where he will stop the following night. He
may thus travel from one end of the province to
the other, private houses doing the duty of inns,
of which in those wild regions there is great
need. To an Englishman with a sufficient
knowledge of the Italian language, and a due
familiarity with the associations of the country, a
journey through Calabria and Basilicata is
interesting in the highest degree. The scenery is
magnificent. Sea and mountain and forest;
valleys of enchanting beauty; rivers that have
become illustrious in ancient and modern story;
towns, hanging upon precipitous peaks, or basking
on the shores of sunlit gulfs; vegetation that
unites the glowing affluence of the tropics, with
the sterner majesty of Central and Northern
Europe, and an atmosphere of luminous blue;
these are the natural attractions of Southern
Italy. There are other attractions. The women
are often surpassingly lovely; those of the
town of Bagnara are so beautiful as to have
found their way into a proverb. Our author and
some of his English friends went to see them,
and were transported with admiration. "In
their countenances," we are told, "there was a
curious mixture of sadness and gaiety, of severity
and grace. Their soft dark-blue eyes glowed
beneath black eyebrows, and their smooth low
foreheads, of the Greek classical type, were
shaded by a profusion of undulating brown hair.
It was a half-sweet, half-savage beauty; a
strange mixture of the Saracenic race with the
purer blood of the Hellenes."

Among the most interesting features of Calabria
are the Albanian colonies scattered about
in little villages amid the mountains. In the
fifteenth century, the reigning Prince of Bisignano
married the daughter of the Albanian
condottiere, Scanderbeg. Together with the lady
came a number of settlers; and the descendants
of these remain to the present day, unmixed with
the surrounding population. They preserve
their original tongue, their national costume, and
their Greek form of Christianity; and their