III. through the L o w-C o u N T R i E s, ^c. 
660 
out the Confent of the others ; though the Spaniards 
have taken Care to reduce their Authority into fuch 
narrow Bounds, that there is no great Occafion of 
Conteil among them upon that Score. 
May 5, We hired a Felucca to carry us to, and bring 
tis back from Malta, May 6, We failed with a brisk 
Gale as far as Catanea, fixty Miles beyond Meffina^ a 
little Town, having nothing confiderable in it, but two 
or three good Convents. May 7, We made forty 
Miles to Syracufa, and failed in Sight of Augufia^ fa- 
mous for the Goodnefs of itsWines. The fmall City of 
Syracufa, in its prefent State, is only that Part of the an- 
cient Syracufa, called being but indifferently 
built, and flenderly inhabited, but very well fortified 
to the Land-fide by the Knights Hofpitallers, after 
they had been expelled Rhodes by the Turks ; but Charles 
V. thought it more expedient to beftow a Settlement 
upon them in the Ifle of Malta. About two Miles from 
the prefent City, you fee the Ruins of the ancient Syra- 
€ufa, and among the reff, the Remnants of an admi- 
rable and extenfive' Amphitheatre. 
We were alfo fhown the Grot, commonly called 
THonyfius’s Ear, being cut out of the Side of a high 
Clift;, it is high roof’d, but not long, and goes a little 
Winding. In our Return from Malta, we took a View 
of one of the Burying- places, or Catacombs of the An- 
cients, of which there are feveral here and in Malta. 
This belonged to St. Anthony's Church, and confided 
of many vaulted Walks cut out of the Rock, having on 
each Hand other Vaults at Right-angles with them, 
the Floors of which were about two Foot higher than 
the Floor, of the main Walk, hewn into Troughs or 
Loculi, wherein they ufed to depofit their dead Bodies : 
In fome of thofe were twenty Loculi, more or lefs. At 
certain Intervals, you come to round Rooms or Halls 
in the main Walks, where feveral of them meet toge- 
ther, fo that the whole being of a great Extent, might 
contain many Thoufands of dead Bodies. 
20. May 8. The Wind being contrary, we were 
Forced to make ufe of our Oars, and rowed as far as 
Capo PaJJaro, anciently called Promontorium Pachynum, 
forty Miles didant from Syracufa. Upon the utmod 
Point of Land dands a little Cadle, held by a Garrifon 
of about twenty Men : This Cadle dands now in a 
little Idand made fo by the Force of the Sea, which not 
long fince brake it off from the Land. The Wind be- 
ing contrary, and blowing a dilf Gale, made the Sea fo 
rough, that we dared npt venture out, but were forced 
to red here two Nights. May 10, we put to Sea again, 
but the Wind dill continuing contrary, and the Sea ve- 
ry rough, when we were gotten about half Way over 
the Channel, we were forced to return back again to 
the primo terreno of Sicily, viz. the Cadle of Puzallu. 
The Greatnefs of the Waves not permitting us to come 
aihore there, we rowed fix Miles farther South, and 
pt in at a little Cove called the Harbour of Punto Cer- 
icolo. The Weather continuing foul, w6 were detained 
here three Days, having no other Shelter but a fmall 
Hut or two, which the two Centinels ("vv^ho dand con- 
dantly at this Point, to watch and give Notice to the 
Country of the coming of Corfairs) had fet up for 
themfelves to creep into in dormy Weather. We diould 
have been glad of fredi Straw to lie on, having Nothing 
in our Kennel but old Ihort Straw, fo full of Fleas, that 
we were not able to deep in it. Our Diet was the Blood 
and Fledi of Sea Tortoifes, that our Seamen took by 
the Way, and Bread we brought along with us : Wine 
we got at a Houfe about half a Mile off our Lodging, 
but when our Bread failed, we were forced to fend eight 
Miles for it and more Filh, for Flelh we could get 
none. ° 
May 13, The Wind ceafing, we put to Sea again, 
and had a very good Paffage over to Malta. By the 
Way we faw - our Seamen take feveral Tortoifes in this 
Manner : V/hen they efpy a Tortoife floating on the 
Top of the Water, as they can eafily do at a good Di- 
dance, with as little Noife as they can poflibly they 
bring their Boat up clofe to him, then they either catch 
him with their Hands and draw him up into the Boat, 
or if they cannot get near enough to do fo, one leaps 
VoL. IL 115. ^ ^ 
out of the Boat into the Sea, and turns the Tortoife dri 
his Back, and then with Eafe drives him before him up 
to the Boar, the Tortoife being not able to turn or fwini 
away on his Back. They fay, (and it is not unlikely) 
that the Tortoife, while he floats thus upon the Watery 
fleeps ; which is the Reafon why they are fo dill, and 
make fo little Noife in bringing their Boat up to hiiUi 
One of thefe Tortoifes which they caught, had two ^reat 
Bunches of thofe they call Bernacle-fhells dicking of 
growing to his Back, and fome of them the larged 
and faired of that Kind which we have ever feen. 
As for that Opinion of a Bird breeding in them, 
(which fome have affirmed with rriuch Confidence, and of 
which Michael Meyerus hath written a whole Book) it is 
without doubt falfe and frivolous. The Bernacles which 
are faid to be bred in them, being hatch’d of Eggs of 
their own laying, like other Birds ; the Hollanders, in 
their third Voyage to difcover the North- ead Pafla-ge to 
Cathaia and China, in 80 Degrees 11 Minutes of Nor- 
thern Latitude, having found two Iflands, in one of 
which they obferved a great Number of thefe Geele 
fitting on their Eggs, lAc. as Dr. Johnfon relates out of 
Pontanus. As for thefe Shells, they are a Kind of Ba- 
lanus marinus, as Fahius Colurma proves, never coming 
to be other than what they are, but only growing in 
Bignefs as other Shells do. All the Ground of this 
Fancy, as I conceive, is becaufe this Fifll hath a Bunch 
of Cirri fomewhat refembling a Tuft of Feathers, or 
the Tail of a Bird, which it fometimes puts out into 
the Water, and draws back again. We were much 
furprized to find of this Shell-fiffi in thefe Seas, fo 
Southerly, and far from the ufual Scene of the Bernack 
Fable. 
The Ifland of Malta is twenty Miles longj twelve 
broad, and fixty Miles in Circuit, didant from thepn- 
mo terreno, or neared Part of Sicily fixty Miles 5 from 
the Cape of Calipia, anciently called Promontorium Mer~ 
curii, theneared Point to the Continent oi Africa, two 
hundred Miles, (as divers of the mod skilful and expe- 
rienced Pilots did affirm to Ahela for an undoubted 
Truth) ; from the Cape of Spartivento in Italy, but one 
hundred and ninety ; fo that upon Account of Vicinity^ 
it is rather to be attributed to Europe than Africa, efpe- 
cially if we allow Sicily to have been of old Time united 
to, and fo Part of the Continent. The Reafon why 
others make it a Member of Africa, is becaufe the pre- 
fent Inhabitants of the Country fpeak a Kind of ilA?- 
resko or Arabick. 
The old City, called Citta Notahile, fituate about 
the Middle of the Ifland, hath 35 Degrees 15 Minutes 
of Northern Latitude, and the longed Day there is 
of fourteen Hours fifty two Minutes. I am not io-- 
norant that Heylin and others, who reckon this amoiTg 
the Ifles of Africa, place it nearer the Coad of Barbary^ 
affign it lefs Latitude, and allow the longed Day no 
more than fourteen Hours 1 but I do in thefe and other 
Particulars, follow the more accurate Obfervations of 
Johannes Frandfcus Abela, a learned Man, and Native 
of this Ifland, in his Malta Illufirata, written in Italian^ 
and publifhed in Malta, Anno 164.6, in Folio. The 
whole Ifland, from the Shallownefs of its Soil there,s 
being in few Places above two Foot Depth of Earth 
before you come to firm StPne ; and from the Lownefs 
of its Situation, not much elevated above the Level of 
the Water, and having no confiderable Hill in itj feems 
to have been in the mod ancient Times, nothing elfe 
but a great Rock wholly overwhelmed and covered with 
the Sea ; efpecially if we confider the Multitude of Sea- 
fhells of all Sorts, Sharks-teeth, Vertebfes of Thorn- 
backs, and other Fifli-bones petrified found all over the 
Ifland, even in the highed Parts of if, and mod remote 
from the Shore. For that thefe were formed by fome 
plaftick Power in the Stone Quarries, being nothino' 
elfe but the Effeds and Produftions of Nature^ fporting 
herfclf in Imitation of the Parts and Shells of thefe Ani- 
mals, I can hardly be induced to believe. 
Nature (which indeed is Nothing elfe but the ordi- 
nary Power of God) not being fo wanton and toyifli 
as to form fuch elegant Figures without farther End and 
Dcfign than her own Paftime and Diverfion. But a 
