68 
A GIRA THROUGH SICILY. 
were no longer there; hones I picked up, but they looked so 
like common bones that I threw them down again : it was 
no use; the enthusiasm wouldn’t come. As for the amphi¬ 
theatre at Neapolis, it is just like any other amphitheatre, 
only less perfect than those of Italy. The ancient aqueduct 
is in so dilapidated a state that scarcely a vestige remains. 
The Ear of Dionysius is one of the few things worth seeing. 
It is a large excavation in solid rock, where it is said Diony¬ 
sius the Second imprisoned his victims, and amused himself 
listening to their groans. The reverberation in this cavern 
is so great, owing to some peculiarity in the construction, that 
the tearing of a piece of paper produces a loud report. There 
are other excavations in the vicinity, of great size and extent, 
formerly used as prisons, but now occupied by rope-makers, 
which is much better. If Dionysius himself had turned his 
attention to the manufacture of ropes, he might have deserved 
hanging less, and have enjoyed a better reputation in history. 
The museum in Ortigia contains a very scanty collection of 
antiquities, dug out of the ruins of Syracuse. The chief at¬ 
traction is the broken statue of Venus, which is a very beau¬ 
tiful work of art, and justly admired. Very little remains of 
ancient Syracuse except the excavations from which the stone 
was taken to build the city. Some of, these are occupied by 
a miserable population of outcasts, who seem to have no 
