246 EAMBLES OP A NATURALIST. 



better method had suggested itself for supplying this 

 deficiency than to charge a man with the accom- 

 plishment of its functions. This person, who took 

 up his abode in the keep of one of the fortresses 

 which defend the village, warned his fellow-citizens 

 of the march of time by striking the hours with a 

 hammer on a bell. A sand hour-glass served him 

 by way of indicator. As may readily be conceived, 

 this animal machine was very easily put out of order^ 

 and we had more than one opportunity of convincing 

 ourselves that, in point of regularity, the man-clock 

 of Favignana was very inferior to one of Breguet's 

 chronometers. 



The number of the population is almost doubled 

 by that of the garrisons of the three forts, by that 

 of the officials of the custom house and quarantine, 

 and above all by that of the convicts who are in- 

 carcerated within the prisons of Fort St. John — 

 those terrible dungeons, which, together with the 

 cells of the ordinary prisoners, are deep excavations 

 hollowed out of the rock, and from which escape is 

 almost impossible. The greater number of the un- 

 fortunate beings confined here were expiating the 

 crimes of murder, or of theft accompanied by vio- 

 lence ; their number during our stay amounted to 

 nearly 2000. 



The products of Favignana are very limited, 

 and quite inadequate for the maintenance of the 

 inhabitants. The land immediately round the 

 town is more fertile than in any other part of the 

 island, and is generally enclosed in gardens, in which 

 grow excellent vegetables, together with magnificent 



