

THE COASTS OF SICILY. 147 



bulwarks, the surface of the bay, which was scarcely 

 ruffled, reflected as in a mirror this glorious spectacle, 



professes the most profound devotion, lived, according to the 

 legend, in the twelfth century, and died on the 4th of September, 

 1160. The family traced their origin to Charlemagne, and her 

 father, Sinibald, was lord of Mont Quisquina and Delle Rose. At 

 the age of fifteen, Rosalia escaped from the house of her parents and 

 concealed herself in a dark cavern on Mont Quisquina, where she 

 continued to live for a long time alone and unknown. Urged by 

 unknown motives she abandoned her first retreat, and retired to 

 Mont Pellegrino, taking up her abode in a grotto, where the 

 absence of light and constant humidity maintained a perpetual 

 winter. It was here that she died, and here her bones were found, 

 in 1625, in consequence of information given by the saint herself, 

 who appeared to several persons. These relics are still preserved 

 in the Cathedral of Palermo. 



The fete of Saint Rosalia, which, is celebrated in the month of 

 September, is kept as a national holiday throughout the entire 

 country. The preparations begin many months in advance, and 

 at Palermo the festival lasts for a whole week, each day having its 

 special ceremonies and diversions. This festival has been too often 

 described to require that I should enter into any details concerning 

 it, but yet I cannot abstain from alluding to the magnificent 

 spectacle presented in the interior of the cathedral during the general 

 illuminations. The entire body of the church, the walls, pillars 

 and vaulted roof are thrown into a perfect blaze of light by 

 thousands of small wax tapers, suspended by threads, which are so 

 fine as to be quite invisible from a short distance. This mode of 

 arranging the lights produces the effect of innumerable stars broad- 

 cast over every portion of the edifice. The fireworks, moreover, 

 deserve special notice, for I have never seen any in Paris which 

 could be compared to them. Our rockets may indeed be better 

 directed, and our fireballs may rise higher, but the profusion and 

 the disorder in which the former are employed at Palermo during 

 an illumination produce a most striking effect ; in watching them 

 you might almost suppose that you were following the movements of 

 living beings urged by some capricious impulse to meet, chase, and 

 encounter one another in all directions. The fireballs as they 

 burst fall in a gold or silver shower upon the surface of the sea, 

 L 2 



