THE COASTS OF SICILY. 33 



heights, was gilding the summits of the Pelores, 

 whose chain of mountains stretches as far as the 

 straits, and commands the town. To naturalists, 

 who, like ourselves, had not had any society for nearly 

 four months beyond that of their boat's crew, Messina 

 possessed a special attraction. We even met with 

 persons here to whom we could speak on scien- 

 tific matters, and at the hotel of La Vittoria, we en- 

 countered the celebrated German traveller Riippel, 

 who, after two years' travelling in Abyssinia and on 

 the borders of the Red Sea, had come to Sicily to 

 study the fishes of the Mediterranean. While we 

 remained at Messina, our labours were daily shared 

 by several distinguished men, whose acquaintance 

 we were fortunate enough to make during our stay ; 

 amongst these, we may mention M. Tardi, a young 

 mathematician already known by several interesting 

 publications ; Dr. Cocco, a naturalist who struggles 

 courageously against the indifference of an ignorant 

 public and the bad will of a suspicious government ; 

 and Dr. Cupari, whose rare talents have led him to 

 be called to the University of Pisa; and, thanks to 

 this pleasant intercourse, our labours seemed at once 

 more easy and more productive of valuable results. 

 However, it was time soon to return to our wander- 

 ing life, for ten days had sufficed to explore the 

 harbour of Messina and the sand thrown up by the 

 whirlpool of Charybdis. The Santa Rosalia was 

 therefore again put to sea, and skirting along the 

 rugged coast, which borders this portion of Sicily, 

 we entered the little harbour of Jardini at the foot 



VOL. II. D 



