168 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



The manor house overlooks the little harbour of 

 this maritime community. It had been orii^inally 

 constructed t-o serve the double purpose of affording 

 accommodation to the lord of the manor and to pre- 

 pare the tunnies which were taken in the neighbour- 

 hood of the island ; but for many years past the 

 fish have forsaken their old haunts, and the pro- 

 prietors have become absentees. The building is 

 therefore now appropriated to the cure of the village, 

 who, at the time of our visit, was a poor Dominican, 

 who, for forty -one tari, or less than twenty francs a 

 month, celebrated mass every Sunday, confessed the 

 dying, performed the service of marriage, and bap-« 

 tized the newly born. Notwithstanding his poverty, 

 this good pastor, who loved animals of every kind, 

 managed to keep five or six cage birds, a few 

 chickens, three cats, and two dogs. I asked li^yself 

 whether it were possible that he could feed the poor 

 creatures ; their starved appearance certainly war- 

 ranted a doubt on the subject. The dogs, especially, 

 were in an inconceivably meagre condition, and looked 

 like animal machines reduced to their simplest forms.- 

 It seemed as if the poor wretches had grown up in a 

 state of continual starvation. 



The Padre Antonino, who, with the exception of 

 his pets, Avas the sole occupant of the ancient resi- 

 dence of the counts of Capaci, was able, without 

 ncommoding himself, to give up to our use three 

 large apartments, in which every thing betokened 

 the most complete neglect. It was only with ex- 

 treme difficulty that one could still trace the outlines 

 of ancient frescoes which had once covered the naked 



