THE BREACH. 
Si 
At present the entire population, including the suburbs, 
amounts to about 90,000 souls. The greater part of the 
town is new, having been entirely rebuilt since the famous 
earthquake of 1783. 
There is so little to be seen in Messina that we got through 
on the day after our arrival. A few churches, convents, and 
old walls are about the only sights in the way of antiquities 
that the traveler is called upon to endure; and, after seeing 
these, he may pass the time pleasantly enough rambling about 
the neighborhood, wdiich is full of fine scenery, or lounging 
about the wharves, where he will enjoy something in the way 
of maritime life on shore. The position of the town is scarcely 
less picturesque than that of Palermo, and for all the evidences 
of progress and civilization I greatly preferred this neighbor¬ 
hood to any part of Sicily. 
On the occasion of a second visit to Messina I was accom¬ 
panied by an Irish major from India and an old English 
gentleman returning from the East, both fellow-passengers on 
the steamer from Malta, and very jovial and agreeable trav¬ 
eling acquaintances. We had but three hours on shore, the 
steamer having merely touched for passengers. It was, there¬ 
fore, on landing, a matter of consideration in what way we 
could spend our time most profitably. The Englishman 
was in favor of seeing the breach at the risk of every thing 
else ; the major of that happy and accommodating tempera¬ 
ment which renders a man capable of enjoying all things 
equally ; and I, having on a former occasion seen every thing 
in Messina except the breach, yielded, against an internal 
conviction that a hole in a wall is not an object of peculiar 
interest. But habitual martyrdom makes a man magnani¬ 
mous, and the old gentleman was bent upon seeing the 
breach ; he had set his heart upon it; he had enlightened us 
upon the historical points, and the breach we must see. Nor 
would he have a guide, for he spoke French, and could ask 
the way. The major, too, spoke a foreign language ; it was 
Guzerat or Hindoo, and not likely to be very useful in the 
streets of Messina, but it might come in play; and I prided 
myself on speaking Italian ; that is to say (between you and 
t>* 
