At once I understood.

This jovial, ruddy-cheeked personage was a man of the hills.

At Catanzaro I should see others like him; perhaps he fairly represented its inhabitants.

If so, I had reason for my suspicion that poor fever-stricken Cotrone regarded with a sort of jealousy the breezy health of Catanzaro, which at the same time is a much more prosperous place.

Later, I found that there did exist some acerbity of mutual criticism between the two towns, reminding one of civic rivalry among the Greeks.