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BARTOLOMEO.

371

Imidio, lost a dog. He was not himself on a par with thegenerality of his neighbours in robust and pugnacious qua-lities, so he applied to Bartolomeo. On the next Sundayit was stated at church, in Vico di Pcmtano, that Barto-lomeo was anxious that the dog should be found, as he hadgiven it to Imidio. The hint went round, and in two daysthe dog was restored. A factor of the Duke of Caravizanomissed a calf, whereupon Bartolomeo being applied to, senthis son to the curate of Vico di Pantano, requesting that onthe following Sunday he would be so good as to announcethe loss of the calf from the altar, and to add, that therewas one man in particular at Patria who would vindicatethe honour of the Pantanari, where all lived in confidenceand security, loving and aiding one another, so that if thecalf were not restored to Filippo (the factor of Caravizano)before Sunday next, the purloiner would have to deal withBartolomeo. I forget whether this announcement wasmade by the priest or by the son of Bartolomeo, but thedesired effect was produced, as Filippo himself assured me.This man, Bartolomeo, had, I was told, killed somebody ina political scuffle; but whether he was in the right orwrong I cannot say. He was, however, of opinion that hehad better keep out of the way of police magistrates andlawyers, so he lived with his son in a pagliara, situated inthe midst of an ocean of reeds, and only approachable by afew canals, just wide enough to admit a small Londra beingpushed along, and so hidden as to make it almost impos-sible for any one but the owner to distinguish their com-mencements, much less their puzzling and -windingbranches. The method of constructing a pagliara in theseplaces is,—first, to dig a canal from some of the mainwaters to the spot selected, and then another canal (or fosso)to form another approach. This is an operation of greatlabour performed in the water (except at Midsummer), and

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