SICILY. 



ters in hiftory. He was fucceeded by his fon Simon, who, 

 after a Ihort reign, made way for a fecond fon called Roger, 

 the firll king; who, in 1127, joined to his Sicilian domi- 

 nions the whole inheritance of Robert Guifcard, and aflumcd 

 the regal title. Roger, it is faid, was named king of Sicily 

 by the pope, A.D. i [30. During his reign, Sicily enjoyed 

 profound peace. The reign of his fon William I. who af- 

 cended the throne in 1154, was a period of war and con- 

 fufion. During the reign of Frederick I. a German, the 

 Saracens, who had revolted, were removed to Puglia, 400 

 years after the conqueft of Sicily, by their ancellors. Tiie 

 Norman line continued till their kingdom was fubdued by 

 Henry VI. emperor of Germany. After the battle of 

 Benevento, Sicily fubmitted to Charles of Anjou, a prince 

 of the French line, A.D. 1266, and having endured 

 quietly for a confiderable time opprefiion and wanton cruelty, 

 at length determined to emancipate itfelf from his tyranny. 

 Accordingly an infuneftion took place in 1282, and after 

 the Sicilian vefpers, the infurgents offered their crown to 

 Peter I. king of Aragon, who accepted and defended it 

 againd all the efforts of his antagonift, and the thunders of 

 the Vatican. On the death of Alphonfo the Magnificent, 

 who fucceeded his father Ferdinand I. of Caftile, Naples 

 was added to his other dominions ; and after his dcceafe in 

 1458, the hiftory of Sicily becomes unintereding. At the 

 peace of Utrecht, Sicily was ceded to Vi£tor, duke of Savoy, 

 who foon after was compelled by the emperor Charles VI. 

 to relinquiffi it, and accept Sardinia a'; an equivalent. 



For further particulars relating to the hillory of Sicily, we 

 refer to Naples. 



The climate of Sicily is very hot ; the thermometer at 

 Palermo varying in June and July from 73^° to 80^°, and 

 when the hrocc wind blows, rifing fuddenly to 112". 

 March is the only month in which any chilling winds are felt, 

 and even in the beginning of January the fliade is refrefliing. 

 The appearance of winter is only feen in the fnow that falls 

 on the fummit of mount TEtna. (Sec that article.) Al- 

 though the ifland has, in many parts of it, the afpedl of a 

 rock, the foil is fingularly fertile, but it is not now cultivated 

 ae it was formerly, when it was reckoned the granary of 

 Rome. The crops of wheat arc dill fo abundant, notwith- 

 ftanding the opprcffion of the government, as not only to 

 fupply the wants of its own inhabitants, but to afford a large 

 furplus for exportation ; and if this ifland enjoyed the blefling 

 of a free government, it might become one of the richell and 

 mod flourifhing in the world ; for even in its prefcnt wretched 

 date of cultivation, one good crop, lays Brydone, would be 

 fufficient to maintain the ifland for leven years ; but when 

 he vifited the ifland, the exportation of this commodity had 

 been prohibited forfeveral years pad, or, at lead, to all fuch 

 as were not able to pay mod exorbitantly for that privi- 

 lege. The fugar-cane was formerly very much cultivated 

 in this ifland, but the duties impofed were fo enormous, th.it 

 it has been almoft totally abandoned. Silk afforded for- 

 merly a profitable branch of trade, but this lias very much 

 declined. Befides wheat, which has at ail times con- 

 ftituted the riches of this ifland, they cultivate many other 

 branches of commerce, though none that could bear any 

 proportion to this, were it under a free government, and 

 exportation allowed. Their granaries are fo contrived, 

 by excluding the air and keeping the grain dry, as to pre- 

 lerve it for many years. Large quantities of barley and 

 pulfe grow in Sicily, but very little oats or millet. Canary- 

 bird feed is exported to a large amount, and is almofl pc- 

 i:uliar to this ifland. Large quantities of oil arc exported 

 from places on the north fide of the ifland. Wine and brandy 

 in-e exported in great ubuiidance ; and the wines arc very va- 



VoL. XXXII. 



rious. The fifheries, alfo, are very produftive, and great 



quantities of tunny, anchovies, and fardmes, are faked, and 

 fent from the vicinity of the places where they are caught. 

 The art of manafafturing fdk, and of the management of 

 the infefts that produce it, was eftabliflied here by Roger, 

 king of Sicily, and it was communicated from hence to the 

 wcdcrn countries of Europe. 



Silk is ccniiidered as the fecond great fource of riches to 

 Sicily, corn being undoubtedly the firfl : a quantity of filk, 

 equal in value to a million of (iucats (187,50c/.) is annually 

 exported. Pdermo and Medina alone feud it out ; a con- 

 fiderable quantity of the materials is manufadlured in both 

 places ; but Palermo, which employs nine hundred looms, 

 exports very little, mod of its lilks being ulcd at hom.e. 

 Medina employs twelve hundred looms, and Catania rather 

 more. In the Mefhricfe manufaftures a variety of Clks i» 

 made, hut the filk is feldom well drawn, dyed, or matched, 

 and the work is apt to prove hard and to rub. Moll of it 

 goes to the Levant. 



A large quantity of barilla is fhipped from the fouthern 

 coaft. The whiteit and heavied fait is produced at Trapani. 

 This ifland alfo furnifhes fumach, liare and rabbit-ikins, rags, 

 fulpliur, &c. for exportation. 



Soda is a commodity of which they have !in ample fupply, 

 and they every year fend great quantities of it to the glais- 

 houfcs at Venice. They have hkewife a confiderable trade 

 in liquorice, rice, figs, raifins, and currants, the bell of wiiicii 

 grow among the extinguifhed volcanoes of the Lipari illands. 

 Their honey, which is gathered three months in the year, 

 •y(«. July, Augud, and Oftober, is very highly flavoured, 

 and in fome parts of tiie ifland fuperior to that of Minorca. 

 Althouj^h fugar is now no article of Sicilian commerce, 

 enough is made for home confumption ; and the (ugar-cane 

 is faid to thrive very much in fevcral parts of the ifland. It 

 is faid, that towards the north of Sicily they find tlie diell- 

 fifh that yields a kind of flax, of which gloves and dockings 

 are made. Their plantations of oranges, of which 2000 

 cheds are fltipped annually from Mefiina, lemons, bcrga- 

 mots, almonds, fee. afford no inconfidcrable branch of com- 

 merce. The pidachio-nut is likewife much cultivated; their 

 manna and alum are likewife very profitable. The cantha- 

 rides fly, which is found on fcveral trees of JEtna, is alfo a 

 Sicilian commodity. Thefe cantharides are faid to be 

 preferable to thofe of Spain. Sicily abounds with mi- 

 neral fprings of both hot and cold water ; fome of which 

 throw up an oil th.it is applicable to various purpofcs. The 

 marbles of Sicily would afford a great fource of opulence, 

 if there were any encouragement to work the quarries ; 

 and they have alfo other doncs that are ferviccable in a va- 

 riety of ways. 



It would, however, be endlefs to give an account of 

 all the various commodities and curious produttions of 

 this ifland; iEtna alone affords a greater number than 

 many of the mod cxtenfive kingdoms, and is no lefs an 

 epitome of the whole earth in its foil and climate, than 

 in the variety of its produftions. Bcfides the corn, tiie 

 wine, the oil, the filk, the fpice, and delicinus fruits of its 

 lov/er region ; — the beautiful forcds, the docks, the game, 

 the tar, the cork, the honey, of its fecond ; — the fnow 

 and ice of its third ; it affords from its caverns a variety ot 

 mineral and other produAions ; cinnabar, mercury, fulpliur, 

 alum, nitre, and vitriol ; fo that this wonderful mountain 

 at the fame time produces every necelfary, and every luxury 

 ofhfc. 



Its firft region covers their t.ibles with all the delicacies 



that the earth produces ; its fecond fupplies them witli game, 



cheefe, butter, hoaey ; and not only turuilhcs wood of every 



4 O kind 



