MALTA AND SICILY. 
279 
wished for a change of diet we might have 
feasted upon garlic, or upon olives swimming 
in rancid oil. We should have considered 
a piece of English ship-beef, or pork, a very 
great luxury, had it been ever so salt and 
tough, but there was no meat of any kind on 
board. 
After beating about for five or six days, 
during which time we again had occasion to 
take shelter for a night under Lipari, we at 
length put into Palermo. We arrived late in 
the afternoon, and had been consoling 
ourselves with the prospect of a good meal, 
and a comfortable bed on shore, but, to our 
great disappointment, the captain declared 
that the water was too rough for us to land 
that evening. In the morning we put seals 
upon all our packages, in the presence of 
the old man and several of the crew, whose 
sullen faces showed that this proceeding did 
