MALTA AND SICILY. 
*223 
% 
hazy, that Mount Etna, the grand object of 
interest, was entirely obscured nearly the 
whole of the day. In clear weather the 
view of Catania from the sea must be ex¬ 
ceedingly beautiful; the land appearing from 
a distance to be thickly wooded, and rising 
gradually from the shore to the foot of the 
mountain. 
By the help of sails and oars we reached 
our port about five o’clock; had we arrived 
after sunset, our boatmen said we should 
have been obliged to have remained on 
board all night. We went through the usual 
ceremonies with the custom-house people, and 
then proceeded to the Corona, which we had 
been informed was one of the principal inns, 
but it had rather a shabby appearance. How¬ 
ever, the proprietor, Abbate, might have safely 
followed the example of the landlord of a mise¬ 
rable road-side ale-house in the west of Eng- 
Q 
