AND LOWER EGYPT. 5 1 



CHAP. V. 



Passage from Palermo to Malta — Soundings between 

 Sicily and the island of Malta, and between this 

 last and Africa — Coasts of Sicily — F ant alar ia— 

 Isle of Malta ; its nature, its cities, its produc- 

 tions* 



We sailed from the beautiful port of Palermo 

 May the 22d, a little after midnight. The fri- 

 gate had now all her guns mounted ; those which 

 had been sacrificed to the accommodation of the 

 passengers, and the absence of which deranged the 

 symmetry of the ship's appearance, were replaced. 

 Our courtiers had taken leave of us. Terrified at 

 the rough weather which we encountered at sea, 

 and particularly at the storm which attacked us off* 

 the mouths of Bonifacio, they did not choose to 

 expose themselves any more to the fury ot an cle- 

 ment so inconstant, and had formed the resolution, 

 after traversing Sicily, to cross over to Naples, 

 and return to France by land. They had been 

 assured at Versailles, and I have heard the same 

 opinion expressed at Paris, that a ship of war de- 

 fied all concussion in the midst of the waves, and 

 that they would be as tranquil at sea as in their 

 own houses. What was their astonishment to 

 perceive that a fabric so vast and so ponderous, 



E a was 



