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to be only five miles from Alicuda, thougli 

 it is in reality twice that number. As, 

 therefore, at Saline, they appear to be fo 

 little diftant from each other, nothing was 

 more eafy than to imagine that they once 

 formed a fmgle mountain, which, either 

 by earthquakes, the violence of the fea, or 

 fome other unknown caufe, had been broken 

 and divided into two parts, an arm of the 

 fea taking poflelTion of the intermediate 

 fpace. 



From the fummit of Saline he, llkewife, 

 e(\imated Alicuda to be only twenty miles 

 from Cefalu, on the coafl: of Sicily ; and, 

 in fad:, when I was on the fame eminence, 

 thefe two places appeared to me to be very 

 near, and Felicuda feemed almoft to join to 

 Alicuda ; yet it is certain that the diftance 

 between Alicuda and Cefalu exceeds five- 

 and-forty miles; It is well known that 

 this optical illufion takes place with refpedt 

 to any objed feen at a diftance, either by 

 land or water. Nothing happens more 

 frequently to the traveller than to find that 



two 



