THE whole "tavoliera," or plain of Apulia, is intersected by broad green roads, called "tratturi," about one hundred yards wide, and marked off by boundary stones. They are public property, and no one is allowed to cultivate them. The animals graze along them as they descend in autumn from the Abruzzi hills to reach their winter pasturage, or return in spring to the mountains to avoid the summer heat of the plains. At intervals are great tracts of pasture, called " riposi laterali," where the sheep and cattle are allowed to rest and feed for twenty hours during their long journey.

In old days the whole "tavoliere" was Crown property, and the owners of flocks and herds paid a tax of so much per head to Government for the right of grazing.*

ANCIENT SIPONTUM.

297

Now all that is changed; the greater part has passed into private hands, and a law has been passed allowing the pasture-land to be broken up ; but the number of animals is still very great. In 1886-87 eighty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty-four sheep, eight hundred goats, and seven hundred and fifty mules came from the mountains into the plain. I could not obtain the numbers of the cows and oxen. Each owner of animals now rents the quantity of pasture he requires from private persons, and the poll-tax which used to be paid at Foggia is abolished.

An hour in the railroad took us from Foggia to Manfredonia, passing over the site of Sipontum, situated close to a marsh called "Pantano Salso," formed by the river Candelaro. The ancient church, Santa Maria di Siponto, still exists, with its bell-tower; and an antique column stands melancholy and alone on the grass-grown piazza opposite the church door. The railway has cut through foundations of ancient houses of the town, founded, according to the myth, by Diomedes, and has laid bare many tombs. The church claims Siponto as one of her oldest bishoprics, and says that the first bishop was ordained by St. Peter himself. History gives Felix, nominated by a council in 465, as the first known Bishop of Siponto.

Pope Alexander III. embarked here for Venice in 1177, when he went to make peace with the Emperor Barbarossa; and here Conrad IV. landed in August, 1252. He was met by his half-brother, Manfred, who walked by his side in solemn procession, and by all the barons.*

Conrad appears not to have inherited his father's talents and virtues, and the cruelty he showed at the taking of Naples alienated the love of his people. Manfred, clever, valorous, and always trying to soften his brother's harshness, was so popular that the young Emperor became jealous of him. Under the pretence that he wanted to lower the power of the barons, he appealed to Manfred to set a good example, and cede to the Crown the estates left to him by his father. He did so, reserving only the principality of Taranto, on which Conrad laid so heavy a tax that Manfred got no income from it. The Emperor also

banished all Manfred's relatives on his mother's side, among them his uncle, Galvano Lancia, the "Vicario" of Tuscany, one of the most trusted servants of Frederick II.

In 1254 Henry, son of Frederick II. and Isabella of England, died on his way to Melfi to

* Jamsilla.

MANFRED CROWNED KING.

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visit his half-brother; and in May the same year the Emperor Conrad was seized with fever at Lavello, and died after a few days' illness, aged twenty-six, leaving one son of two years old. Markgrave Berthold of Hohenburg was left as "Balio," or Regent, for the young Conradin, and he soon alienated the whole country by his incapacity and greed, and the license he allowed the German mercenaries.

The Pope began to collect an army to invade Apulia, and was joined by many of the barons, who were dissatisfied with the rule of Hohenburg. At length he threw up his regency, and those among the counts and barons who were still faithful to the Empire, begged Manfred to assume the reins of government, as being the only person who could save the kingdom.

After considerable hesitation he consented, and the barons and people swore fealty to him as the representative of his young nephew Conradin, with remainder to himself in case the child died. In August, 1258, Manfred was crowned King of Sicily and Apulia at Palermo.

"Alla fine del detto mese re Manfredo fo a Siponto et disignao di levare la terra da chillo mal'aera, et di ponerla dove sta mo, et chiamarla dal nome suo Manfredonia."* ("At the end of

* M. Spinelli di Giovenazzo.

the said month (January, 1259) King Manfred went to Siponto and decided to move the town from that bad air and to place it where it now stands, and call it by his own name, Manfredonia.") And Manfredonia it still is, in spite of all the efforts of Charles of Anjou to abolish the hated name, and call it "Novo Siponto."

Evening was coming on as we reached Manfredonia; I had already been warned that the hotel-keeper was an "originale" (an eccentric person), and that if he did not fancy us he would simply shut the door in our faces and leave us to find a bed where we could. Luckily the station-master was in his good graces; he accompanied us to the "Locanda di Don Michele,” and recommended us, begging our host to prepare his famous fish-soup.

Don Michele Rosari de Tosquez (to give him his full name) certainly was odd, to say the least. He held the lamp to my face, and when I smiled and held out my hand, he slapped me on the shoulder and said, "You please me. Now that is so like women! My wife has just had her tenth child, so that I can't give you our bed-room, the best in the house; curse the women!" I mildly suggested that I was a woman also, and that as long as my sheets were clean I did not care about the room. We