Hard by the ancient sanctuary is a chapel, consecrated to the Madonna del Capo; thither the people of Cotrone make pilgrimages, and hold upon the Cape a rude festival, which often ends in orgiastic riot.
All the surface of the promontory is bare; not a tree, not a bush, save for a little wooded hollow called Fossa del Lupo--the wolf's den.
There, says legend, armed folk of Cotrone used to lie in wait to attack the corsairs who occasionally landed for water.
When I led him to talk of Cotrone and its people, the Doctor could but confirm my observations.

He contrasted the present with the past; this fever-stricken and waterless village with the great city which was called the healthiest in the world.

In his opinion the physical change had resulted from the destruction of forests, which brought with it a diminution of the rainfall.

"At Cotrone," he said, "we have practically no rain.

A shower now and then, but never a wholesome downpour." He had no doubt that, in ancient times, all the hills of the coast were wooded, as Sila still is, and all the rivers abundantly supplied with water.