3.8 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



elapsed before they were in a condition to repay 

 it. We could, however, take no offence at this 

 extraordinary delay, for we saw distinctly the can- 

 noneers labouring, without intermission, to raise 

 from the earth some pieces of ordnance half-buried 

 in it, to lift them up on blocks of wood to serve as 

 carriages, and at length put them in a condition 

 to be tired off. Such was then the state of the 

 Sicilian artillery. The corsairs of the Barbary 

 coast were well acquainted with this, and knew 

 how to avail themselves of it, by coming to cut 

 ships out of the very harbour. 



The viceroy sent an officer on board to congra- 

 tulate us on our arrival, and to invite us to the 

 conversazione : this is the name given to the as- 

 semblies or domestic parties held in the opulent 

 houses of Italy. 



We stopped only three days at Palermo. These 

 I employed in taking a rapid view of what appeared 

 curious in the city and its environs, already known 

 from different relations, and from the beautiful 

 drawings which have been taken of it. I shall 

 describe with similar rapidity what a stay so short 

 permitted me to remark. 



The harbour, one of the safest in the Mediter- 

 ranean, defended by a fortress whose artillery, as 



I have 



