196 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



visit the Temple of Segesta*, which is situated about 

 six miles from Castellamare in a desolate region, 

 known in the present day as the Contrada Bar- 

 bara, 



The following day we set forth, accompanied by 

 Carmel, and guided by the Deputato Sanitario in 

 person, who had politely volunteered to serve us in 

 the capacity of cicerone. For some time we fol- 

 lowed a road which, here and there, afforded evidence 

 of having been worked by the hand of man ; but 

 after leaving this beaten track, we entered a veritable 

 Sicilian path. Here it needed a vast amount of 

 faith to trust to our mules' legs rather than to our 

 own, but in a little while we were re-assured by the 

 steady carriage and the marvellous instinct of these 

 animals, which seemed to guide them securely in the 

 midst of rolling stones, holes, and sharp-edged rocks, 

 and we soon gained sufficient confidence in their 

 safe-footedness to direct our whole attention to the 

 surrounding landscape. The path gradually wound 

 upwards round the mountain above Castellamare, 

 carrying us at first through a country rich in 

 vineyards, and groves of olive, orange, and citron 

 trees, and interspersed with farms and cottages, but 

 the character of the scenery gradually changed, 

 growing more picturesque and wild at every step we 

 took. Half-way up this elevation, every trace of 

 culture had disappeared, and nothing was to be seen 



* The ruins of Segesta, one of the most important cities of ancient 

 Sicily, are enclosed between the mountains which, rising at the foot 

 of the Bay of Castellamare, are continued throughout the whole 

 distance between Alcamo and Trapani. 



