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LAKE, OF COMO, with its unequaled beau


# water, earth and sky was at length quilted


9Th slow. reluctant, amorous delay as Adam


nd Eve might have left Paradise; though it is


,..,,h,, whether any of the lakes of the first


rd.n was disturbed by steamboats,, while three


= these unronantic but convenient Inventions


a,;lv traverse the Lago di Como, and arc almost


eood enough to be American. One OF these con-


sored us down the Lake. past the Villas, which,


.,.nr ,s shores, both give and receive beauty,


and which have been favorite resorts for two thou


sand wears. from the time Of Piny Che fragments


of,vhose colonnades are now half buried in the


lake, down to Caroline, Princess OF Wales, and


Madame Pasta.


Coxo is fine old city, which lies so charm


naIv at the foot of the lake to which it gives its


name, that Ugo Foscolo used to say that it was


impossible to study in its ncighborhood, for the


natural beauties which surround it for ever call


the attention away from dry books. The inhab-


tants seem to appreciate this, and live almost


wholly in the open air. The shady sides Of the


streets are lined with workmerl at all trades;


sboenakers, seamstresses, and hlacksmiths ply


their tools in friendly neighborhood, exposing all


The mysteries of their arts to every passer-by-


Families dine in front of their houses instead of
inside, and all seem to look upon their rooms as
mere Sleeping places for the night. The broad
arcades of stone, the high buildings and the gay
colored curtains which hang before the shops and
cates instead of doors, indicate how important it
isin this region to exclude the sun and admit the
air Figs Grapes, Olives and Pomegranates are
piled up in the streets as farther indications ofthe
warmth of the climate.


Another curious circumstance, assimilating this
tropical oasis to the era when mammoths lived
in frozen Siberia, is the existence among the COM
mon people Of a tradition that in the neighboring
hills lives an enormous lizard, more than six feet
long, which may be a lincal descendant Of the
Samian reptiles (the Megalosaurus, 1chthyo-
saurus, &C. found by geo!osists in the coal
mines of England, and which also prove the
former prevalence there of a tropical temperature.
Our own Yankee sea.serpent' is also paraleled
by an enormous iish, much larger than man,
which browses at the bottom Of the lake, and only
occasionally vouchsafes to show himself, like the
Raserpent off Nahant


Quaint old Churches abound in Como, and of
these the most remarkable is the Cathedral. The
rrhy coored marble of which it is built, is deco
rated with fantastic carvings, and with perpen-
dcIlar rows OF statues OF statues rising IN their
inches, one above another, to the very top
A al, l,o Jol,n ,H
tares of fanciful arabesques, entwining birds and
beasts, serpents and children. Internally dim,
religious light prevails, barely sufficient to show
the statues and paintings of the atars, and the blue
and gold of the ceiling. But the Church is most
identified with the locality by two statues OF the
elder and younger Pliny, which arc attached to
its front, and protected by marble canopes. The
inscription announces that they were erected IN
the 18th century by the inhabitants of Como to
their fellow. citizens 1t is well that even such
slight connection between the dwellers here now
and then can be established, for it would be hard
totrace any resemblance between the ancient ltal-
lans and their degenerate descendants.


In the Austrian domnions, to take a place IN
diligence, it is necessary to show your passport,
andat Como, a new instance of their suspicious
watchfulness occurred. On presenting mine at
the Office, the clerk said, Your passport is out
Of order; it is six days since it was endorsed at
the other end of the lake, and you have just ar
nved by the steamboat. How do you explain
that 2" "Very easily" answered. BY my
having passed that time at Cadenabbia half way
down the lake. 'Ah yes, yes" said he, as If
The possibility Of that had never before occurred
70 HIM, and then apologizcd for his over-careiul-
ness saying that being so near the frontier, they
were obliged to exercise a very strict scrutiny of
all arrivals.


The regulations for passengers by the Austrian
dihgences show still farther the mlnuicncss with
which that government directs the smallest ac
tons of its subjects. The receipt for the fare
contains no less than nineteen long rules, putting
the passengers under a sort of military discipline
They must be at the Office half an hour before the
time of starting, and have their luggage there
two hours previously. No sick persons can travel
by the diligence, unless their friends engage all
the seats for the whole distance, lest they should
lacommode the other passengers. The same rule
applies to children undcr four years of age, and
this part of it all bachelor travellers IN coaches Will
heartily approve. Ifapasscngcr is taken sick on
tae road he cannot go on in the diligence This
seems rather cruel, but probably not very rlgldy
enforced. After luggage is brought to the Office,
Its owner is not allowed to go to it again except
with the Conductor. Dogs are not allowed In
tie carriages, but pipes, well closcd are permit
ted, in kind consideration of their being necessar-
les of life to the German subjects of Austria
thus the rules run on, regulating the mlnutest
points, and finishing by severely ordering all the