bal, its population, according to Diodorus, amounted to 220,000: but it is now reduced to 15,000. Among the numerous fine remains of antiquity which it still displays, the elegant temple of Concord stands nearly entire. The present town is ill built and gloomy, but boasts of some interesting objects and institutions, particularly a library rich in Roman medals, bronze and earthen vases, &c. The staple article of commerce is grain, which is generally kept in pits, or grottoes: but a considerable quantity of sulphur is also exported. The adjacent plains are extremely fertile, and clothed with the richest vegetation. - Having seen all that is remarkable in this place, M. DE SAYVE repaired to Macaluba, at a league's distance, to visit the mud-volcano.

6

In

'These ejections,' he says, are unconnected with igneous phænomena; and, although the term volcano, applied to these discharges of gas and mud, is improper as involving the notion of fire, I shall retain it, because it has been hitherto adopted. Italy, this appearance, which occurs in several places, is known by the name of Salse, from the saltness of the water ejected. The peasants, too, call these places Bollitori, or Gorgogli. The Macaluba of Sicily is an argillaceous hill, of about 130 feet in height, which has the form of a truncated cone; while the section of its upper plane is quite covered with small truncated cones, of different heights, from half a foot to three feet, and much approximated. Each of these small cones has a crater, or rather a small opening, through which bubbles of air (or, to speak more correctly, of carbonic acid) momentarily escape, and give way without much noise, discharging at the same time small streams of diluted clay. In dry weather, an inconsiderable quantity of petroleum and salt is found under the crust of the cones, while all beneath is of a miry consistency: but this is the case only in summer; for in winter the cones disappear, and are replaced by small pools of salt and turbid water, on which is a trifling portion of petroleum. Sometimes, again, the whole presents merely a lake of ooze in a state of ebullition, which may be approached without danger. Great eruptions also take place at Macaluba, but only at indeterminate periods; and usually every second, third, or fifth year, when the neighbourhood exhales a strong bituminous and sulphureous odour, and the explosion is accompanied with a very violent subterraneous noise.

'We have to remark that this phænomenon is referable to a very remote period; for both Strabo and Solinus make mention of it, and the latter in the most explicit terms. This volcano of hydroargillaceous gas had, in like manner, its periodical eruptions in the middle ages; as we may prove by its present name, which is Arabic, and means overthrown. From the form and great extent of the flat surface, we may infer that the eruptions were greatest in antient times but the soil is not sensibly enlarged, because the rains quickly carry off such soft materials. It is also alleged that

these

these salse formerly emitted smoke and flames, but the assertion requires confirmation. The old streams are recognized by their superior whiteness, and greater number of cracks. The whole of the affected soil, which measures from five to six hundred toises in circumference, reposes on a calcareous bottom, covered with marl and clay. This phænomenon is occasioned solely by the liberation of carbonic acid gas, slightly impregnated with petroleum and hydrogen. Pallas ascribes these ejections to the combustion of coalfields but the strata about Macaluba have no relation to soil of that description.

The eruptions sometimes throw up stones which happen to occur in their passage: but they remain unchanged. For the rest, if the disengagement of carbonic acid and hydrogen should take place under an argillaceous soil, it would probably produce the same effect; and the appearances exhibited on the lake of Palici may, perhaps, be traced to the same cause with those of Macaluba. We have heard of extraordinary eruptions at the last-mentioned place, when the stream was projected to the height of 150 feet. In 1777, one rose to the height of 100 feet, accompanied by a voluminous discharge of sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gas; and it occasioned a local earthquake. At Bissama, two leagues and a half from Girgenti, and situated a little more northerly than Macaluba, all the same phænomena are observable, and the sulphureo-bituminous odour is perceptible even at a distance.

There are also several salse in Italy, particularly in the territories of Bologna, Parma, and Reggio, and near the lake Ansanto, twelve miles from Naples. Those of the Crimea are much more considerable; for, according to the testimony of Pallas, one of them, in 1794, had an eruption with such violence that a single stream exceeded four hundred toises in length, accompanied by smoke and flames, which rose to upwards of 300 feet. Such volcanoes also exist in America, and in the Sunda islands.' (P. 211.)

6

M. DE SAYVE'S first excursion into the interior of the island proved much less interesting than he had anticipated, At Castronovo, having wandered into the church in the middle of a sermon, he found himself surrounded by a numerous and merry congregation. The preacher, a perfect adept in grimacing and gesticulation, happened to inveigh against gluttony, and illustrated his positions by anecdotes, of which the following is a sample: The father of the present King of Naples, after a great dinner, was desirous of eating a peach; and as, from pure greediness, he devoured it skin and all, God caused the Devil to enter into the body of a wasp; now this said wasp lodged in the kernel of the peach, which opened, because the King swallowed the fruit with inordinate appetite; and the wasp, feeling itself squeezed, stung the King's mouth, and grievously annoyed him; whence it is evident that God punishes faults when we least expect it. At this conclusion, the whole audience again gave way to laughter: but as

for

for myself I quitted the church, quite shocked to find Christian morality thus ridiculously enforced.'- Allicata, the antient Gela, exhibits scarcely a vestige of its early splendor: but the identity of its position has been settled by a singular Greek inscription, on marble, being a decree of the republic in favor of Heraclides, the son of Zopyrus. Here the author ascertained that several of the swallow-tribe pass the winter in Sicily, instead of crossing over into Africa; and the same remark is, we believe, applicable to the Hieres islands, and the coast of Genoa, where these birds pass the night in the open country on the orange-trees. We may take notice, too, of the numerous grottoes and subterraneous chambers which occur in different parts of the island, particularly in Val di Noto, and in the valley of Ispica, which seem to be designed for human habitations, and in two different stages of society; the more antient being rudely fashioned, while the others manifest much greater skill and industry. They are generally of difficult access, and appear to have been calculated for securing their occupants against intrusion. Some of them, however, have been obviously excavated for places of interment. The rocks of Cape Passero afford frequent examples of calcareous strata incumbent on a hard basalt, or lava; and in some other parts of the island are singular alternations of lime-stone and lava. — The Palagonian or Naphtha Lake is of a round form, about 450 feet in circumference, and 15 m depth: but in summer its waters are considerably reduced. It is remarkable on account of its violent ebullitions, occasioned by the extrication of carbonic acid gas, blended with a small proportion of hydrogen; for the petroleum which_collects on its surface; for its strong bituminous odour; and for the muddy softness of its bottom: circumstances from which we may infer that it is merely a modification of a mud-volcano: but the natives firmly believe that it is the abode of a

sorceress.

The traveller devotes fifty pages to the antiquities and modern state of Syracuse; which, like the other towns of Sicily, seems to have sadly dwindled from its former grandeur. That it ever included within its walls two millions of human beings, as some authors have alleged, may well be questioned: but, if we assume even the lowest computation of 800,000, the present contrast of only 13,000, or 14,000, reads a striking lesson to the reflecting moralist. Again, the Fountain of Arethusa, now a well for washer-women,-the celebrated Temple of Minerva, scarcely to be recognized in the form of a church, the nearly obliterated traces of the palace of Verres, of the meridian constructed by Archimedes, and of other

objects

objects too numerous to rehearse, awaken many interesting and melancholy emotions. The quarries are still visible in which prisoners were confined; and the multitude of lautomia, or catacombs, still arrest the steps and the eyes of the confounded spectator. Relying on the distinct assertion of Cicero, the author very properly rejects the commonly received notion which assigns the tomb of Archimedes to the quarter of Acradina, instead of placing it in the outskirts of the city, and near the Agrigentine gate. He is likewise inclined to disbelieve the hackneyed story of the burning of ships by mirrors, not because it is physically impossible, but because it is not mentioned on creditable authority.-A goodly portion of the present citizens of Syracuse is attached to some religious profession or order, and all are enraptured with the pageantry of piety: but their manners are said to be singularly corrupt and depraved. - The papyrus flourishes as an indigenous plant in the vicinity of the city; and its conversion into paper has exercised the experimental talents of the Chevalier Landolina. The banks of the Symethe, which furnish yellow amber, suggest some useful annotations on that rare and somewhat mysterious substance.

From the repeated wrecks of Catania, only a few shattered fragments of taste and magnificence have been rescued. Owing to the generous zeal of the late patriotic Prince Biscari, the remnant of an amphitheatre has been disclosed, and some of the numerous statues which adorned the theatre have been brought to light. Charondas, the celebrated legislator, was a native of this place; and his head, crowned with laurel, appears on one side of a medal, with Justice and her balance on the other. Medals were likewise struck in commemoration of Amphinomus and Anapus, brothers; who, during a violent eruption of Mount Etna, snatched their father from the midst of the flames. Their fellow-citizens even raised temples to their honor, in order to consecrate this signal act of filial duty; which, according to Thucydides, was performed about the 75th Olympiad. In the vicinity of the town are the vestiges of the Temple of Proserpine, of the Cesilian Fountain, and of an aqueduct which conveyed water from Licodia, a distance of eighteen miles. As most of the present Catania has been recently rebuilt, it is one of the handsomest towns in Sicily. The cathedral, the church and museum of the Benedictine convent, and the cabinet of Prince Biscari, which is richly stored with Sicilian curiosities, particularly antiquarian and mineralogical specimens, are all deserving of the attention of the traveller. The University, founded in 1444, at present boasts

boasts of several able and distinguished members, Gioeni, Ferrara, Longo, Maravigna, &c.

Overlooking, for the present, M. DE SAYVE's account of Etna, which nearly accords with those that are already in public circulation, we shall be contented to transcribe his remarks on the huge chesnut-trees which have been so long admired:

The most remarkable are three in number, removed about two hundred paces from one another: the first is called Castagno del Re, the second, Castagno dei Cento Cavalli, and the third, Castagno del Nave. These extraordinary trees generally acquire their excess of timber only at the expence of their foliage. Their height is not proportioned to their thickness, and their fruit is of little value. Tall chesnut-trees abound in this region of Etna; and those that are young, in particular, are very upright, smooth, and well cultivated. Not only is the gathering of their fruit an object of particular attention, but from their wood are manufactured hoops, which are afterward conveyed to Aci for sale. All the adjacent trees partake of this extraordinary vigor of vegetation; for, independently of the chesnut-trees which have obtained celebrity, the same quarter contains many others of the same species, which are enormously large, when compared with those of other parts of Europe; whence we may presume that those which are, in the present day, signalized as wonders of nature, have not been, or will not continue to be, the only instances of such monstrous dimensions.

The Castagno del Re, or royal chesnut-tree, which is the first of the three famous trees that I have seen, is stationed at a height inferior to that of its rivals, and rises only to twelve or fifteen feet before the commencement of the branches: but the enormous circumference of the trunk, which I accurately measured, is thirtyseven feet, three inches. This tree is very old, and has few leaves; its upper branches have been cut off, and the trunk is hollow, though not at first sight apparently so; for to be convinced of the fact we must climb up the tree.

The Castagno dei Cento Cavalli, or chesnut-tree of an hundred horses, so called because it is alleged that an hundred horses might stand under the shade of its branches, is quite different from the idea that we might naturally form of it; for instead of one tree we have five, disposed in a groupe, through which is a path. There is even another small chesnut-tree, more to the left, and which is said to proceed from the same roots; a very possible supposition: but it is too remote from the groupe to appear to belong to it. A small house was formerly built in the middle of these trees, but it no longer exists.

• I cannot conceive how any writer should be so hurried away by a desire to astonish, as to superadd any thing that is marvellous to objects in themselves noble and extraordinary. Brydone, speaking of the chesnut-tree of an hundred horses, says that the front and opposite sides of the trunk were wholly destitute of

bark;