TIJE COASTS OF SICILY. 11 



then Duke of Orleans, who, having been banished 

 from France on account of his name, and not per- 

 mitted to remain at the court of Naples on account 

 of his liberal opinions, came to seek an asylum in 

 this remote corner of the world. It may be, that in 

 the midst of the splendours and the troubles that 

 chequered his life while he was king of the French, 

 he often recalled the humble white cottage which 

 was pointed out to us by our guides as his former 

 residence ; and it may be, too, that even without 

 foreseeing the sorrows of exile, he may often have 

 regretted the calm and peaceful days he spent at 

 Milazzo. 



The peninsula of Milazzo consists of an irregu- 

 larly-shaped and somewhat elliptically formed tongue 

 of land, whose greatest width scarcely measures 

 a mile and a half, but which extends nearly six miles 

 into the sea at right angles from the shore. Its geo- 

 logical constitution is very remarkable ; for the coast, 

 from which it seems to take its origin, consists of 

 sandstone for a considerable distance in all directions, 

 but, as soon as we pass beyond the isthmus, we find 

 that the rocks are composed of gneiss and mica schists, 

 both of which are of more ancient origin. These rocks 

 extend over the greater portion of the territory, 

 and form in the centre of the peninsula a small 

 mountain, known as the Monte Venereo. Beyond 

 this we find strata of the same nature for a short 

 distance, but these rocks soon disappear under beds 

 of round pebbles, and sand transformed into sand- 

 stone rock. Beyond this again, on the borders 

 of a steep cliff, there is a thin stratum filled with 



