2. If 0 
--3SS 
LETTERS FROM 
a solid state, and the roads, the walls, and 
the soil are all of the same dingy black 
colour. And at this early season the vineyards 
do not add to the beauty of the prospect. 
Nothing is visible but leafless stunted vine- 
stumps, planted at about three feet from 
each other, and tied to short upright sup¬ 
porters of wood or cane. The most common 
tree in the neighbourhood is the olive ; but 
though this is an evergreen, it is not very 
ornamental, for the foliage is of a dull melan¬ 
choly tint. “ The land of the olive and 
vine,” which would doubtless be a goodly 
and a pleasant land in summer, is almost as 
desolate in winter as “ a land of briars and 
thorns.” We should have deferred our visit 
to Sicily till May or June : we might then 
have ascended to the top of the mountain, a 
pleasure which alone would have amply repaid 
us for the miseries of our voyage in the San 
