At Ponte Centino the next morning we took our leave of
_La patria bella
Di vaghe Donne e di dolce favella;_
in plain prose, we left the Tuscan territory, and re-entered the dominions
of His Holiness. After being detained half an hour at the _Douane_, we
proceeded to Acquapendente to breakfast. The country between Radicofani and
Acquapendente is dreary, thinly populated, little cultivated, and volcanic
steams of sulphur assail the nostrils. Before we arrived at Acquapendente
we had a troublesome river to cross, which at times is nearly dry, and at
other times the water comes down in torrents from the surrounding mountains
and precipices, so as to render its passage extremely dangerous. It is
always necessary previous to the passage of a carriage, to send on a man to
ford and sound it, from its meandering and forming different beds crossed
seven times, twice less than Styx _novies interfusa_, and it is a very slow
operation from the number of rocks and quicksands; so that, should the
torrent come down while you are in the act of crossing, you and your whole
equipage would be swept away by the stream and drowned or dashed to pieces.
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