SICILY. 



kind for building their fhips and houfes, but likewife an 

 inexhauftible (tore of the moft excellent fuel ; and as the 

 third region, with its ice and fnow, keeps them frefh and 

 cool during the heat of fummer, fo this contributes 

 equally to keep them warm and comfortable during the cold 

 of winter. 



The principal trade of this ifland is carried on at Palermo 

 and Meflina ; the former conlumes of imports four or live 

 times more than the latter ; but on account of lighter duties, 

 Meflina exports a greater quantity of filk, and fupplies the 

 inland towns with more commodities. The bufinefs of other 

 places on the coafl confifts folely in fhipping corn, wine, 

 fait, &c. Trapani, on account of its famous falt-pans and 

 the fhipping belonging to it, is one of the buCeil commercial 

 towns in the ifland. 



According to the enumerations made in 1714, fays Swin- 

 burne, Sicily contained 1,133,163 inhabitants, including 

 40,000 eccleiiallics, and iic,ooq inhabitants of Palermo. 

 In 1 615 it contained 1,107,234; in 1505, 488,500, with- 

 out reckoning the inhabitants of Palermo or MefTma. 



When Mr. Brydone vifited the ifland in the year I 770, he 

 fays that the inhabitants, by the laft enumeration, amounted 

 to 1, 1 23, 1 63, of which number there were about 50,000 that 

 belonged to the different monaiteries and religious orders: the 

 inhabitants of Palermo were computed at 150,000. The 

 number of houfes in the ifland were eftimated at 268,120 ; fo 

 that allowing the enumeration and the eflimate to be jult, the 

 number to a houfe appears to have been between five and 

 fix. The vicifBtudes and commotions that have more re- 

 cently occurred have not been favourable to an increafe, but 

 muft rather have contributed to a diminution of the popu- 

 lation. 



The provinces in this ifland are three : viz. Val di Noto, 

 260 miles in circumference ; Val di Mazara, 302 miles in 

 circumference; andValDemona, 313 miles in circumference: 

 they contain 42 towns belonging to the demefne, and 310 

 baronial. 



Sicily is governed by a viceroy, in whofe abfence the 

 archbifhop of Palermo is regent. The general aflembly 

 of parliament is compofed of 66 archbifhops, bifhops, ab- 

 bots and priors, which form the bracchio ecclefiaftico : 58 

 princes, 27 dukes, 37 marquitfes, 27 counts, I vifcount, 

 and 79 barons, form the militaire ; and the demaniale con- 

 fifts of 43 reprefentatives of free towns. Out of each brac- 

 chio four deputies are chofen to conduft public bufinefs ; 

 but the viceroy, the prince of Butera, and the prxtor of 

 Palermo, are always the three firft. N.B. There are many 

 titled perfons that have no feat in the aflembly, -viz. 62 

 princes, 55 dukes, 87 marquifl'es, i count, and 282 other 

 feudatories. 



The ccclefiaftical government confifts of three archbi- 

 flioprics and feven bifhoprics. 



The following tables fliew the coins, weights, and mea- 

 fures of Sicily. 



Tables of Sicilian Coins. 



Gold Coins. 



1. Piece of 6 ducats, or dou- 



ble ounce. 



2. Piece of three do. or onza. 



3. Piece of two ditto. 



4. Piece of one ducat and a 



half. 



Silver Coins. 

 Scudo, equal to 13 taris. 



Ducat 

 Mezzo fcudo 

 Terzo di fcudo - 

 Piece of three tari 



10 

 6 

 4 

 3 



of two tari, equal to the 



tari of Naples. 

 The tari, equal the carlino of 



Naples. 



Brafs Coins. 



Grano, equal to fix Neapolitan calli, or half a grane, 

 Mezzo-grano, equal to three calli of Naples. 

 Other fubdivifions are feldom met with. 



Accompts are kept in onza, tari, and grano. Upon an 

 average, the ducat is worth forty-five pence Englifh money. 



Weights and Measures. 



There are two forts of weights ufed in Sicily. 



1. Grande. 



I Caiilaro contains iiorotoli 



I Rotolo - 33 ounces 



I Pound - 12 ounces 



1 Ounce - 30 trapefi 



2. Common. - m,- ^ • , ^ 

 o . . • . 1- I Ihis cantaro is equal to 



I Cantaro contains 100 rotoh I „ rl • " ht- 



I Rotolo - ^o ounces f ' . ," . 8 



avoirdupois. 



This cantaro is equal t» 

 215 pounds avoirdu- 

 pois weight. 



•; 



Dnv Measure. — Com. 



1 Salma generale contains 16 tomoli — equal to 20 Win- 



cheiter bufhels, ufed in meafuring wheat. 



2 Salma a la grofTa contains 20 tomoli — equal to 24 Win- 



cheflcr bufhels, ufed for barley, beans, &c. 



Liquid Measure. — Oil. 



1 Caffis weighs 18 pounds avoirdupois. 



Wine. — I Salma contains 8 quartari. i Quart contains 

 12 quartucii. 



Lineal Measure. 



12 Oncie make i palmo, equal to 10 inches 3 lines. 

 8 Palmi make i canna, equal to 6 feet 8 inches. 



Befides the obligations which the Romans had to the 

 Etrufcans and Greeks for their tafte and knowledge in the 

 fine arts, the conqueft of Sicily 200 years before the Chrif- 

 tian era, contributed greatly to their acquaintance with them. 

 Indeed, there was no itate of Greece which produced men of 

 more eminence in all the arts and fciences than Sicily, which 

 was a part of Magna Grxcia, and which having been peopled 

 719 years B.C. by a colony of Greeks from Corinth, their 

 defcendants long after cherifhed ar.d cultivated fcicnce of 

 all kinds, in which they greatly diftinguilTied themfelves, even 

 under all the tyranny of government with which they were 

 opprefled. Fabricius gives a lift of feventy Sicilians who 

 have been celebrated in antiquity for learning and genius, 

 among whom we find the well-known names of .£!chylus, 

 Diodorus Siculus, Empedocles, Gorgias, Euclid, Archi- 

 medes, Epicharmus, and Theocritus. To the Sicilians is 

 given not only the invention of pailoral poetry, but of the 

 wind iuftruments with which the fhepherds and cowherds 

 ufed to accompany their rural fongs. 



After the conquell of Greece, the Romans had the tafte 

 to admire and adopt the Grecian arts. And the prefident 

 Montefquieu remarks, with refpecl to the military art, that 

 one of the chief caufes of the Roman grandeur, was their ' 



method 



