: : 



SICILY. 



SICILY. 



CC3 



they are chiefly used as forage for horses. Manna, which is an exuda- 

 tion of the sweet sap of the ornus (a species of ash which grows in 

 the mountains of Sicily) is procured by making vertical incisions in 

 the bark of the tree. Almonds and pistachio-nuts also are largely 

 exported to Germany and the north of Europe. Sumach is exported 

 chiefly to England. The best sumach is that of Alcaiuo and Trapani. 

 Kid-skins and lamb-skins, both dressed and undressed, are shipped 

 from Mesaina to Germany and England. The other articles of Sicilian 

 produce are rice, nuts, walnuts, dried-figs, cantharides, honey, wax, 

 Rum, soda, and cotton, which is cultivated to a considerable extent. 

 The sugar-cane (cannamele), which was once extensively cultivated in 

 Sicily, is now entirely abandoned. The above hat of products shows 

 the great natural capabilities of the island. 



Cattle are few in number, and mostly poor, owing to the want of 

 the artificial grasses, and to their being neglected and left in the fields 

 without stabling. Sheep are numerous, but little attention has been 

 paid to improving the breed, and the wool is bad. Cheese is made 

 from ewes' milt Goats are in many places preferred to sheer. The 

 government has established a stud of foreign stallions to improve the 

 breed of hones. Wolves are common in the mountains and forests, 

 and snakes in the low plains. 



The population is distributed very unequally over the surface of 

 the island. The coasts, especially the northern and eastern, are thickly 

 studded with towns, whilst the central part of the island is compa- 

 ratively uninhabited. The tract between Messina and Catania is the 

 moit populous part of the island, whilst in the west the tract between 

 Alcaiuo and Trapani is almost a desert. The mountains are generally 

 uninhabited. The want of roads, and the greater resources for in- 

 dustry afforded by the proximity of the sea, serve to explain this 

 inequality. 



.Sicily was formerly divided into three great divisions, called Valli. 

 1. Val di Maaara, which comprised the western part of the island ; 

 it* eastern boundary very nearly coinciding with the northern and 

 southern Himera, which both rise in the Hadonia Mountains, and 

 flow the former northward, under the name of Fiume Grande, into 

 the sea between Cefalu and Termini, the latter southward, under the 

 name of Funau Saito into the sea at Alicata. The Fiume Salso has 

 brackish waters after iU junction with a small stream that flows from 

 the salt-mines of Caltanisetta, and has obtained its name from this 

 circumstance. 2. Vat di Dtmone, which comprises the north and north- 

 east of the island, as far south a* the Siuuethus, or Qiaretta, including 

 the region of -Etna. 8. Val di Noto, which com prised all the rest of 

 the island between the Salso and one of the head streams of the 

 Giaretta, which psssis San Filippo d'Argyro. 



The island is now divided into seven provinces, the ana, subdivi- 

 sions, and population of which are as follows : 



The government of the island is placed in the hands of a general- 

 governor, who U also cotnmander-in-chief of the forces. Each 

 province has its own Intendeote, or civil governor ; each district its 

 SoUintendente, or subprefect ; and each commune iU Sindaco. or 

 mayor, a* in the continental dominion*. [NAPLES, vol. iii. col. 007.] 

 For judicial purposes the provinces are divided into judicatures, each 

 having a judge of first instance for criminal and police matters. In 

 the head town of each province Is a collegiate court for civil suits. 

 There is a 'Gran forte Civile,' or High Court of Appeal, in each of 

 the three principal cittern, Palermo, Menins, and Catania, and a supreme 

 court of justice at Palermo. For scientific instruction there are three 

 universities, Palermo, rtnssins. and Catania ; and 21 colleges in the 

 Tuioue provincial towns. There is an institute for female education 

 at Palermo ; naval schools at Palermo, Termini, Cefalu, and Messina ; 

 a veterinary school at Palermo, and an academy of the fine arts in the 

 same city. 



Elementary instruction is much neglected ; some elementary schools 

 exiet in the towns, but few in the rural communes. The great 

 majority of the people is illiterate. 



The religion of the inhabitants a the Roman Catholic. The eccle- 

 sketical establishment coosuU of three archbishops Palermo, Mon- 

 reale, and Messina; 11 bishop. Siraousa, Mascara, Cefalu, Patti, 

 Nicosia, Piazza, Oerace, Oirgenti, Caltagirone, Catania, and Lipari; 

 13 abbacies, and about 30,000 secular priest*. The regular clergy 

 insMJUi of 7601 individual., including lay brothers, distributed 

 mtif 663 convent*, of which 409 are possessed of property, and 

 24 are of the mendicant orders. Sicily having remained undisturbed 

 by revolution or French invasion, the property of the convents has 

 . DI v. VOL. iv. 



remained uutouched. There are colonies of Greek or Epirote ongiu, 

 which have retained the Eastern ritual, but acknowledge the Pope as 

 their spiritual head, being of what is called United Greeks, who are 

 Catholics in faith, but use the Greek ritual. The head of the Greek 

 clergy resides in Messina, and ia subject to the jurisdiction of the 

 archbishop of Messina. 



The governor-general represents the king's person, and is often a 

 member of the royal family. He has under him a secretary of state ; 

 but all important matters are referred to a section of the council of 

 state sitting at Naples, which section is specially concerned with the 

 affairs of Sicily. 



Sicily is not burthened with the conscription. Recruits for the 

 army are obtained by voluntary enlistment. The permanent force 

 kept in the island consists in ordinary times of 6000 meu. The 

 principal garrisons are those of Palermo, Messina, Syracuse, Trapani, 

 Agosta, and Melazzo. There was formerly a rural police, called 

 'armigeri,' charged with the care of keeping tlie roads clear from 

 outlaws; but it has been superseded by gendarmes. The present 

 king, Ferdinand II., opened several carriage-roads throughout the 

 island. During a visit .to the island previous to 1840, he abolished 

 every remnant of feudality, setting the example himself by renouncing 

 several feudal duties and fees. He also ordered the demesne lands 

 to be distributed among the poor rural population. 



The manufactories of Sicily ara unimportant. Cotton-cloth is 

 manufactured at Messina, Catania, Palermo, and Caltagiroue ; silks at 

 Palermo, Catania, and Nicolosi; leather at Messina; gloves, soap, 

 artificial flowers, and paper, at Palermo; coral from the coast of 

 Africa is wrought at Trapani. Sicilian vessels, mostly coasters, amount 

 to about 1400, besides fishing-boats. The foreign trade of Sicily is 

 carried on chiefly in Genoese, Austrian, French, and Spanish ships. 



The principal towns of Sicily are -.PALERMO, MESSINA, CATANIA, 

 SYRACUSE, AGOSTA, TRAPANI, and GIROBNTI. Among the inferior 

 towns, the following deserve notice : Melazzo, Patti, Taormiua, 

 Castro Reale, and Randazzo, noticed under MESSINA ; Termini, Cefalu, 

 Corleone, Monreale, and Carini, noticed under PALERMO ; Caltagirone, 

 Nicosia, Aci Reale, Paterno, Aderno, and San Filippo d'Argyro, noticed 

 under CATANIA; Sciacca, Castronovo, Bivona, and Aragona, noticed 

 under GIRUKNTI ; and MARSALA, ALCAMO, and ALICATA, noticed under 

 their respective heads. 



The other towns which deserve notice are : Coitelretrano, near the 

 site of the ancient Entella, in the west part of the island, with about 

 12,000 inhabitants, in a romantic situation on a hill in the province of 

 Trapani : the ruins of the ancient Seliuus are a few miles south of 

 Castelvetrano, near the sea-coast Maaara, capital formerly of the 

 Val di Muzara, U situated in 37 40' N. lat., 12 34' 53" E. long., on 

 the coast at tike mouth of the Salemi, about 10 miles S.E. from 

 Marsala, and the same distance west of Castelvetrano, and has 10,000 

 inhabitants. CaliattiteUa, a town with above 20,000 inhabitants, a 

 cathedral, and numerous churches and convents, is situated in the 

 interior of the island, a few miles west of the Salso. Caltabdlatta, on 

 a hill north of Sciacca, near the south-west coast, has about 7000 

 inhabitants. Cattrogiovaiuti, a town of 12,000 inhabitants, near the 

 site of the ancient Enna, stands on a lofty hill of very difficult access, 

 near the centre of the island, 36 miles W. from Catania and N.E. 

 from Oirgento. Tcrranoro, on the site of the ancient Gela, on the 

 south coast of the island, on the river Terranova, has about 9000 

 inhabitants, who carry on a considerable trade by sea. Modica, in 

 the south of the island, 28 miles S.W. from Syracuse, ia situated in 

 one of the finest and most fertile districts in all Sicily ; it has numerous 

 churches and convents, and about 24,000 inhabitants. The finest 

 cattle in Sicily, the finest wool, and the best cheese and butter, are 

 produced on the territory of the city of Modica. East of Modica, on 

 a hill near the coast, is Noto, the capital of the province of Noto, with 

 a college, a rich collection of Greek, Roman, and Moorish coins, a 

 museum of antiquities, an hospital, and about 18,000 inhabitants, who 

 trade in com, wine, and oil. Piatza, an episcopal town in the interior, 

 18 miles N. from Terranova, with 18,000 inhabitants, is situated on a 

 hill halfway between Cantrogiovanni and Caltngirone. Cattellammarc, 

 on the gulf of that name on the north-western coast, between Palermo 

 and Trapani, has a strong castle and large granaries: it is noticed 

 under CASTELLAMMARE. Salemi, a fortified town, situated on a hill in 

 the west part of the island, 16 miles S. from Castellammare, is built on 

 the site of the ancient JJalicya, and has about 12,000 inhabitants. 

 Both names of this town are derived from the salt springs near it. 

 Lenlini, the ancient Leoutini, has 6000 inhabitants and some good 

 buildings ; but the air is considered unhealthy in summer. Carlmtini, 

 a little south of the preceding, has 4000 inhabitants. Oeraci, in the 

 mountains, north-west of Nicosia, has 4000 inhabitants. Besides 

 these, there ara many other towns of less note. Sicily has many 

 towns containing above three thousand inhabitants, as the popula- 

 tion live chiefly in towns, and not iu cottages dispersed about tho 

 country. 



The small islands belonging to Sicily are I. The group of the 

 LIPARI ISLANDS. 



II. The group of the Trapani Islands, anciently called /Egatei, and 

 lying opposite the promontories of Drepanum (Trapani) and Lily- 

 bscum. faviynana, the ancient yEgusa, about 18 miles from the main- 

 land of Sicily, is 18 miles in circumference : it has good anchorage- 



2 o 



