tiful scene before them. The coast of Calabria on one side is high and covered with the finest verdure, that of Sicily low, but beautifully variegated. The rock of Scylla on the Calabrian coast, and the celebrated Straits of Faro, which divide Sicily from the peninsula of Italy. The weather was fortunately calm, and as soon as the ship entered the current, they were rapidly carried to Messina. Antonio, whose mind had conjured up a thousand horrid fantasies, respecting Scylla and Charybdis, was pale with fear as the vessel passed rapidly along. During the whole of this dangerous passage he had chaunted his hymn to the virgin; nor was it till he sprang on shore, that he ceased, when he fell on his knees and returned thanks for his preservation.

"That is an example worthy of imitation," said the Doctor, as he gazed on the youth who, with folded hands, and uplifted eyes, his fine countenance glowing with the most heartfelt devotion, presented a picture worthy the study of a Guido or a Raphael.

Our travellers staid a very short time at Messina, when they had viewed the quay, which is extremely beautiful, being built in the form of a crescent, and surrounded by magnificent structures four stories high, and exactly uniform for the space of an Italian mile. The walk here is one hundred feet wide, and may be pronounced one of the finest in the world.

SECTION X.

SYRACUSE, &c.

HAVING heard that it was necessary to have guards in order to traverse the country between Messina and Syracuse, our travellers preferred another aquatic excursion, and accordingly embarking for the latter place with a gentle breeze, they had a fine view of the adjoining coast.

"See," said the Doctor, "you have not once observed Mount Etna, which is in the form of a frustrum or cone, and covers a space of 63 miles in circumference. The lower regions have a fertile surface, and are adorned with grapes and forests; the top is covered with snow, except the crater, from which smoke, often mingled with flame, is continually ascending, and at intervals, eruptions of fiery matter roll desolation over the villages and cities in its vicinity. The whole mountain, and the neighbouring regions, appear to have been formed of the accumulating substances that have been ejected. In 1787, there had been 33 eruptions: the effects of one in 1693 were by far the most terrible. That

fery deluge was accompanied with a most awful earthquake during four minutes the earth shook, one fourth of Syracuse was destroyed; Catania annihilated; nearly every city on the eastern coasts of Sicily lay in ruins, and 60,000 people perished!

"See where it lifts its majestic head towering above the clouds, and there stands all that remains of Syracuse, the ancient capital of Sicily. This city was originally founded by a colony from Corinth; its walls were formerly 22 miles in circumference: but the earthquake of 1693 proved so fatal, that the present circuit is only about two miles. You know Archimedes, the great mathematician, was born here; a man of admirable sagacity, who laid the foundation of almost all those inventions, which later ages glory in having perfected. You have heard, Edward, how he discovered the quantity of silver that was mixed along with the gold in the crown of king Hiero?"

"No, Sir."

"Well, then, listen attentively, and I will explain this curious discovery to you.

"Having reasoned upon that principle, that all bodies immersed in 'water, lose just so much of their weight, as a quantity of water equal to them in bulk, weighs-for example, a pound of tin, because it is lighter than gold, would be also larger in bulk; therefore it would necessarily displace a greater body of water than gold, the water thus displaced by the tin, allowing that these metals could float, would of course be more in quantity than that displaced by a pound of gold, and would, therefore, weigh more. Do you understand this?"

EDWARD." Perfectly."

DR. WALKER." Hence Archimedes drew the conclusion, that gold being more compact than silver, it must lose less weight in water, and that a mixed mass of both, must lose in proportion to the quantities mingled. Weighing, therefore, the crown in water and in air, and two masses, the one of gold, the other of silver, equal in weight to the crown; he thence determined what each lost of their weight, and so resolved the problem.

"This wonderful man defended the city of Syracuse, by opposing to the efforts of the Roman general, the numerous resources he found in his creative genius. By means of many different machines, all of his own construction, he rendered Syracuse inaccessible to the enemy. Sometimes he hurled up on them enormous stones, sometimes flights of arrows; even their ships could not escape his ingenious vigilance; for when they attempted to approach the fort, he seized them by the prows with grapples of iron, which he let down upon them from the walls, and shook them to pieces, or plunged them in the deep.

“You have heard of the wonderful galley he built for Hiero, king of Syracuse, which was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world. This galley had twenty benches of oars; three large apartments, and all the conveniences of a large palace. The floor

of the middle chamber was inlaid, and represented in various colours the stories in Homer's Iliad. In the uppermost apartment, there was a spacious gymnasium, or place of exercise, and walks with gardens and plants of all kinds disposed in most beautiful order. Pipes made, some of hardened clay, and others of lead, conveyed water all around to refresh them. But the apartment of Venus, was the finest of all; the floor was inlaid with agates and other precious stones; the walls were of cypress wood, the windows were adorned with ivory, paintings and small statues. In this chamber was a library and a bath with great coppers, and a bathing vessel made of one single stone of various colours, and containing two hundred and fifty quarts: it was supplied with water from a great reservoir at the head of the galley, which held a hundred thousand quarts. This vessel was adorned on all sides with fine paintings, and had eight towers of equal dimensions, two at the head, two at the stern, and four in the middle. Round these towers were parapets, from whence could be flung immense stones against the enemy. Each tower was constantly guarded by four young men completely armed, and two archers. An engine was fastened to the side, which threw a stone of three hundred weight, and an arrow of eighteen feet the distance of an hundred and twenty-five feet."

EDWARD." What a magnificent vessel !"

Antonio asked if they should see it.

"Oh no, replied Doctor Walker, many hundred years have elapsed since this vessel was constructed; and even if it were in existence, we must go to Egypt to gratify our curiosity; for Hiero sent it as a present to Ptolemy king of Egypt. What river is that?" enquired the Doctor of one of the mariners.

He was told it was the river Gioretta, and that the ruins near it were those of Morgantio, near the mouth of that river, continued his informer, large quantities of amber are found, which are carefully collected by the peasants, and carried to Catania, where it is manufactured into beads, crosses, and so forth. That is the city of Augusta you see so well fortified, and not far from it is little Hybla, so famous for its honey. See," continued he, “look at those turtles which are asleep on the surface of the water, if we attempt to touch them, they will be out of sight in a moment. Syracuse was anciently composed of four cities. Ortigia, Tycha, Achradina, and Neapolis; the former alone remains; the site of the other three is now covered with vineyards, orchards, and corn fields."

Our travellers visited the amphitheatre, the theatre, the catacombs, the Latomie, and the famous ear of Dionysius.

"The car of Dionysius is a huge cavern, cut out of the rock in the form of the human organ of hearing. Its perpendicular height is about eighty feet, and its length is not less than two hundred and fifty. This magnificent, ingenious, yet cruel cavern was so constructed, that the sound from any part of it was col

lected into one focus, called the tympanum. Exactly opposite to this the tyrant had a small aperture, which communicated with an apartment where he used to conceal himself, and where he could distinctly hear, it is said, every word that was uttered in the cavern below."

"What a cruel, cowardly contrivance ?" said Edward, as they quitted this frightful abode.

"But what will you think of Dionysius," rejoined the Doctor, "when I tell you that this curious cavern was no sooner completed, than the tyrant put all the workmen to death whom he had employed in its construction, and then immediately peopled it with those whom he suspected of being his enemies."

"What a monster!" exclaimed Edward and Antonio at the same moment.

The Latomie now forms a luxuriant garden, in which oranges, lemous, bergamots, pomegranates, olives and figs grow to a very large size. Most of it is one hundred feet below the surface of the earth, and is one of the most romantic spots that can be imagined.

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In this garden there are several recesses, in one of which a Capuchin friar has taken up his residence; he was discovered by Antonio, whose glancing eye had caught sight of the crucifix, to which he eagerly advanced, when the father advanced from his grot, and surprised the youth by his unexpected appearance. Not far from this spot they were shewn the Arethusa, and at a little distance from this stream is a large spring of fresh water that boils up in the sea, called Ocehi di Žilica, or Alpheus.

"You know the story, Edward, tell it to Antonio."

EDWARD." Arethusa was the daughter of Nereus and Doris, who flying from the pursuit of Alpheus, who was in love with her, she was changed into a fountain, and according to the poets, this fountain or river, which runs under ground, near Olympia in Greece, after traversing between five or six hundred miles under the sea, rises in this place. Alpheus too was turned into a river, and that fountain called Occhi di Zilica, and sometimes by his name, is also supposed to have made the same long and wonder, ful journey. Virgil, in his tenth eclogue, thus apostrophises this poetic spring

"Thy sacred suecour, Arethusa bring

To crown my labours, 'tis the last I singSo may thy silver streams beneath the tide, Unmix'd with briny seas securely glide.' Vastly well, Edward," said the Doctor :" remember always Antonio, to ask your young master whether what he tells you is true. You understand that the whole of this story is a fable." "Si, Signor," replied the youth, "like the story of Rinaldo on the beach at Naples."

CHAPTER XVIII.

MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS.

SECTION I.

MALTA-THE NAUTILUS.

SEE nothing to detain us here," said the Doctor, as they returned home, so the first vessel which sails for Malta, we will pay our respects to that celebrated and eminent island."

The next day they again embarked on board a Maltese vessel, and after a most delightful sail, they anchored in the port of Valetta; the whole island of Malta is richly cultivated, and our travellers, who had been very ill accommodated at Syracuse, were delighted at finding themselves comfortably settled in an excellent inn. They staid some time in the island, visiting its numerous villages, which, though small, are all adorned with a magnificent church. St. Valetta, the capital of Malta, is really a fine city, for the streets are spacious, and the houses are built of white stone. The island itself consists of three peninsulas, which are separated from each other by channels capable of receiving large fleets. It produces large quantities of lemons, cotton trees and vines. Grain is imported from Sicily.

After the taking of Rhodes by the Turks, the emperor Charles V. gave this island to the Grand Master of St. John of Jerusalem, It was attacked by the Turks in 1566, who were obliged to abandon the enterprise, with the loss of 30,000 men. The Knights of Malta formerly consisted of eight nations, but the English, since the reformation, have ceased to form one of them. They are obliged to suppress all pirates, and be at perpetual war with the Turks and Mahometans; they are inadequate to the first, and the second is unbecoming a society of Christians. This is supposed by some to be the island where the apostle Paul was wrecked, though others 'say it was one now called Melede, belonging to Ragusa in the Adriatic. The inhabitants, however, shew near Melita a small church dedicated to St. Paul; and near it a statue of the saint with a viper in his hand, supposed to be placed on the very spot where he shook the venomous animal from his hand. The Maltese believe the island was freed by his power from all noxious animals; very true it is that none will live in this island. The

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