76 
A GIEA THROUGH SICILY. 
and disgust, calling every body in the town, sporka, and then 
darting out again. In the end he was forced to return to the 
Posta, where we contrived to survive the tortures of the ver¬ 
min, and get something to eat. 
The next day’s travel along the sea-shore was the most 
pleasant we had enjoyed in Sicily. Good-humor was restor¬ 
ed after all these trials of temper, and we laughed heartily 
at the incidents of our journey to Syracuse. 
We now entered a fertile region along the base of Mount 
Etna, abounding in green valleys and luxuriant vineyards, 
and dotted over with pretty little towns and farms. The 
road on either side was lined with pleasant-]ooking and pic¬ 
turesque villas, and the population had a much more thrifty 
appearance than that of the southern portion of the island. At 
Aci Reale , a handsomely situated town about half-way be¬ 
tween Catania and Messina, our party took mules to go up to 
the ruins of Taormina, about an hour distant up the mountain. 
My experience in mules was not such as to encourage another 
trial ; so I walked. The town of Taormina is one of the 
most picturesque old places in Sicily. For variety of outline 
and wild scenic effect, I have seen nothing in Italy or any 
part of Europe to surpass the ruins of the Teatro di Taormina 
and surrounding mountains. On three sides are towering 
peaks of rock ; Mount Etna is clear and blue in the distance ; 
and the Straits of Messina and the mountains of Calabria 
lie outspread in front with all the rich coloring given by an 
autumnal sun. I stopped long enough to explore the ruins 
and make some sketches, rather to the annoyance of my travel¬ 
ing friends, who generally did their admiration up in broken 
exclamations, and left me to do the artistical part, while they 
pushed on in search of further antiquities. 
Touching the history of Taormina, it belongs chiefly to 
classical times. Now, to tell the honest truth, I have no pre¬ 
dilection for the classics. In my younger days that sort of 
reading was forced upon me as physic for the mind ; and 
having no taste for extravagant scenes of bloodshed and 
disgusting exhibitions of sensuality and folly, the result was 
that I took to Don Guixote, Gil Bias, Robinson Crusoe, and 
