60 



MESSINA. 



Messina, twenty vessels are eitgaged in the first, each navigated 

 "' by eight men, who are exclusively Messinese, on ac- 

 count of their superior personal strength and skill, and 

 also from the dangers attending it. They obtain near- 

 ly 3000 pounds of coral yearly ; but the fishermen 

 consider this a secondary employment, and to be fol- 

 lowed only when none more profitable occurs. In 

 the capture of the sword-fish, from eight to twelve 

 barks, each provided with two boats, are employed. 

 The fishermen use either strong nets, or a harpoon, 

 which is so constructed, that, on striking the fish, the 

 shaft is disengaged from the iron head, while both are 

 retained by a cord 600 feet long. Much dexterity is 

 practised here ; and the fishermen, who are very su- 

 perstitious, repeat a Greek sentence, as a chafm to at- 

 tract the fish to their barks. Most of those taken are 

 consumed in Messina, where this fish is favourite food ; 

 and some, being salted, is sent in presents to Naples. 

 The fishery of the shark is not regularly followed, as 

 it resorts, at uncertain periods, to the Straits ; and the 

 occupation is attended with danger, from the great vo- 

 racity of the creature. 



The judicial establishments exceed all proportion to 

 the population, which in itself produces many incon- 

 veniences ; and the inhabitants are greatly dissatisfied 

 with the discharge of the duty of their functionaries. 

 There is a senate, consisting of fifteen members, or of- 

 ficers, civil and criminal courts, whose proceedings are 

 subject to appeal in the courts at Palermo, and civil 

 officers superintending the whole, amounting to no 

 less than 300. It is impossible to obtain a prompt de- 

 cision, which keeps a number of litigants constantly at 

 law ; and, in consequence, a great many professional 

 persons find employment. Justice is very partially ad- 

 ministered, which is the source of great annoyance to 

 the parties ; and the police of the city is bad. A few 

 years ago, an Englishman having been robbed and 

 murdered in the streets, his mercantile countrymen 

 resident here demanded the punishment of the offend- 

 ers, who, after much equivocation and delay, were 

 convicted. Nevertheless, their relatives endeavoured 

 to redeem them from the penalty by bribery ; and it 

 required the most vigorous efforts to obtain their exe- 

 cution. Forty-eight villages are dependent on the city, 

 and governed by the same laws. 



Messina is the second city in Sicily, and is at pre- 

 sent in a high state of prosperity, notwithstanding the 

 defects of its internal administration. The population 

 of few cities has undergone greater fluctuation within 

 an equal period. During its most flourishing condi- 

 tion, in the course of the preceding century, the inha- 

 bitants are supposed to have amounted to 100,000 ; 

 successive public calamities, however, reduced them 

 to 25,000, or 26,000, in 1781. In the year 1798, 

 by an actual enumeration, the population was found to 

 amount to 45,000 souls; but so rapid has been the in- 

 crease of late, that it is now computed at between 

 80,000 and 90,000. The cause of so unexampled an 

 augmentation, is ascribed to the growing prosperity of 

 the island in general, the extension of commerce, cir- 

 cumstances which have driven many families from 

 agricultural pursuits, and particularly to the presence of 

 the British forces. This is the only place in the is- 

 land where there are any Jews, as that nation has been 

 proscribed since the year 1492, when they were ex- 

 pelled from the Spanish dominions. 



Messina is a place of great antiquity, first known by 

 the name of Zancle, or Zanclea, from one of its found. 



ers ; though some etymologists maintain that this is a Messina. 

 Greek word, characteristic of the shape of its harbour, v ""> ' 

 which resembles a sickle. A new colony having come 

 hither from Mycene in Greece, it was thenceforward 

 called Messana, and at a later date was the scene of 

 sanguinary hostilities between the Romans and Cartha- 

 ginians. Since that time it has participated in the ge- 

 neral fortunes of the island. But in modern history it 

 has been chiefly celebrated for its misfortunes. When 

 in a very prosperous condition, the plague, introduced 

 by a vessel from the Levant, in 1743, swept away 

 35,000 souls in the course of a few months ; and be- 

 fore having completely recovered from this disaster, the 

 inhabitants were visited by another awful calamity. At 

 noon, on the 5th of February, 1783, a long thick cloud 

 was seen on the opposite shore of Calabria, which was 

 instantly followed by a hollow subterraneous rolling un- 

 der the city ; and, amidst a torrent of hail and rain, ac- 

 companied by loud peals of thunder, an earthquake 

 shook it to its foundations. The inhabitants fled from 

 their houses to the squares and open places ; while a 

 suffocating smell of sulphur escaped from the earth, 

 opening in fissures under their feet. Incessant undula- 

 tions continued during several successive hours, when at 

 length a tremendous concussion, at about 7 or 8 o'clock 

 of the subsequent evening, completed the overthrow 

 of the more solid edifices, which had resisted the feeble 

 shocks preceding it. Numbers of the citizens were 

 overwhelmed by the ruins ; many, in the scene of terror 

 and dismay, hurried to the quay to get on board of 

 the vessels lying there; some sought refuge in the 

 country ; but others, more intrepid, disregarded their 

 own safety, to rescue their weaker relatives from the 

 walls and rafters which were crashing around them. 

 Half of the whole city was now levelled with the 

 ground ; one quarter of it rendered ruinous ; and the 

 remaining portion greatly damaged. Churches, con- 

 vents, colleges, and palaces, all had fallen ; the palaz- 

 zata, almost throughout its entire length, was injured; 

 houses, fountains, and statues were demolished ; and 

 scarcely any, excepting those structures occupying the 

 higher grounds, were spared. To aggravate the pub- 

 lic calamity, conflagrations succeeding the earthquake, 

 ravaged the city during seven days ; and the licen- 

 tious, availing themselves of the general disorder, pil- 

 laged and murdered the defenceless without remorse. 

 Yet, amidst such a field of desolation, only 700 or 800 

 of the inhabitants perished, owing to the survivors 

 having had time to quit their houses before they tum- 

 bled, and from so many having been driven to the 

 country by their first apprehensions. Temporary huts 

 and barracks were erected for those preserved ; and 

 the public magazines having been saved, these, along 

 with immediate importations of provisions, alleviated 

 their distresses. But such were their sufferings, that 

 even with the lapse of six years they had not fully re- 

 covered from the horror and stupefaction occasioned 

 by the disaster. A long time elapsed before the earth 

 recovered its stability. Above 200 shocks were felt 

 within the two months following ; and the city, since 

 that time, has been repeatedly threatened with another 

 convulsion. At present, most of the ruins are remov- 

 ed, and new edifices supply the place of many that 

 were destroyed. 



During part of the late war, Messina was the head 

 quarters of the British army, amounting, in the year 

 1806, to 10,000 men, sent for the protection of Sicily; 

 and a flotilla lay in the harbour when Murat collected 



