Quitting Massa, we drove over a noble bridge of one lofty arch built entirely of white marble, and after winding across a long hill, we passed through Carrara, near which, in one of the lateral vallies, are the celebrated marble quarries. A little beyond this village we entered the Piedmontese territory and the dominions of the King of Sardinia, and soon arrived at Sarzana, a small ill-looking town. It being Sunday, the road and town were covered with peasants in their holiday suits: the dress of the women is one of the oddest I have yet seen; they wear no stockings, and their clothes seem huddled on all in a bundle; their hair is drawn away from their foreheads, and tied up behind in a bag of silk, of different colours, some red, some blue, some black, and always with three or four tassels hanging down from the end, whilst on the top of this bag is stuck the funniest little straw hat possible, looking much like a soup plate turned topsy-turvy, and made of frizzled straw, ornamented with coloured ribbons. The women of a higher rank wear white veils over their heads, and no bags.
_11th._ Leaving Sarzana, we crossed the river Magara in a ferry-boat, and after a pleasant drive arrived at Spezia, a small narrow-streeted town, beautifully situated at the head of the gulf of Spezia, and surrounded on the side near the sea by spacious walks and groves of acacias, which were covered with their long white blossoms, and exhaled a most delightful perfume. In the middle of the gulf, not far from the town, we were informed that a spring of fresh water rises through the sea, forming a pool of fresh water of thirty to forty yards in circumference in the middle of the salt-water. I had however no time to visit this phenomenon, for Sir Humphry wished to be read to for an hour or two, and we shortly after quitted Spezia and with it the sea, and drove on to Borghetto, a little miserable village, the road to which was not yet finished, and very bad, though running through a beautiful valley, much resembling some of those of Austria, with its clear stream and finely wooded mountains.
_12th._ We quitted Borghetto early, and winding over a very long and high mountain for four hours, we again saw the sea, two or three thousand feet below us, spotted by many a white flitting sail. In the distance was Gorgona, and still further, scarcely visible to the eye, the hazy blue line of Corsica, which was however soon lost to us. A great part of the mountain was composed of _serpentine_, with which also the roads were mended. From the top we looked down upon other mountains, covered with villages, but very barren, a few olive groves here and there being the only mark of vegetation. At the bottom of the hill we passed through Sestri, a pretty little town close upon the sea, and from thence over a beautiful road on the sea shore to Chiavari, a larger town, rather more distant from the sea, and partly hidden by trees, above which rose its white steeples and some of its houses. The gulf of Sestri is far more beautiful and diversified even than that of Spezia.