34 
A GIRA THROUGH SICILY. 
that can be fished out of the bay of Catania ; the chickens 
and capons, the salmis, the salads, the roast-beef and mutton 
are unexceptionable. They have their separate apartments; 
their servants, their private wines, their—hut it won’t do to 
be too particular. You know the brotherhood do not use 
these things—they are for the use of visitors. Perhaps with 
all their failings they are as good as most men; and it must 
he admitted that no traveler can visit the convent of Monte 
Sanario or Yal Ombrosa, in Tuscany, or indeed any of the 
convents throughout Italy or Sicily, without a grateful sense 
of their genuine good-nature and hospitality. They are not 
soured by an ascetic mode of life, or misanthropic from their 
seclusion; the world is open to them, and they enjoy it in a 
quiet way. 
Close by the convent of San Benedetto is a female convent. 
I was not permitted to enter, having no friends there. 
Six miles from Catania, on the road along the coast to 
Messina, is the group of rocks where it is said the Cyclopes 
were horn. They are called the Cyciopean Isles. I went up 
one forenoon to make a sketch of them. The weather was 
unpropitious; and, after a glance at the rocks and a thorough 
drenching, I was compelled to return without the usual boat 
excursion to the grotto. 
