308 A SICILIAN SCENE. 



names of abuse for a shark in Sicily ; everybody was ex- 

 claiming, everybody exulting over its destruction. "Eccolo, 

 Bippo ; we have him at last, you see," remarked one of 

 the crew to a boatswain who had just entered the market. 

 . " Buono giome a lei ! Good day to you ! I make you 

 my bow, sir," said the other, gravely doffing his red 

 worsted cap to the fish. " We are all happy to welcome 

 you on shore, signor; after this, I fancy, you will not 

 again intrude into the chamber of death (la camera della 

 morte)* and make a hole for the tunny to slip through 

 our fingers eh ? No, my lads ; now we really have him, 

 and you may mend your nets in security." " Pu Bacco 

 and St. Anthony !" exclaimed a third; " will you tell me, 

 sir, where you have put the flannel drawers you snatched 

 from my felucca, as they were drying on Sunday last, in 

 less than five minutes after Giuseppe's legs were out of 

 them t " "Cune maledetto! (accursed hound !) where's my 

 brother's hand, which you snapped off as he was washing 

 it over the side of his boat, not a week ago 1 " " Caro 

 lei ! did you happen to bolt down Padre Giacomo's poodle, 

 which disappeared so suddenly the day before yesterday, 

 as he was swimming ashore with his master's stick ? " 

 "Risponde, Risponde ! answer, answer ! " shouted twenty 

 eager voices at once. " Gentlemen," said the master 

 boatman and proprietor of the canesea, " we shall get 

 more out of him by looking into him than by asking such 

 questions as these," and forthwith proceeded to cut him 

 up. 



In Ceylon the terror inspired by the Squalidse has in- 

 duced the growth of a singular superstition. Before the 



* See page 108. 



