It is awfully hot here—as hot as when we came. The insects are simply awful. It's a good thing you left before they got really bad. My leg is so swollen I can only hop to-day. It is maddening because otherwise I feel so well and strong. Curse these confounded countries!! We have double nets, powder, bathe in verbena, oatmeal, page 247 milk, salt water, fresh—but nothing cures them. I think they make the idea of a life in this country absolutely insupportable. Enough of them.

I took the revolver into the garden to-day and practised with it: how to load and unload and fire. It terrifies me, but I feel ‘like a new being’ now that I can really handle it and understand it. I'll never give it back to V. ¹ They are fascinating things; one is childishly fascinated. I almost understand old Brontë père. No more coffee to be had in San Remo. The Government has taken it over as it has the rice. Dear knows when we shall get any more. It doesn't matter really.