14 
A GIRA THROUGH SICILY. 
such a steamer; perhaps it was at number seventy-one, two 
doors above. I went into number seventy-one, two doors 
above, and was told by a small but very imposing gentleman, 
with a brass band on his cap, that seventy-one was the bu¬ 
reau of the French steamer; if didn’t go to Palermo ; it went 
to Marseilles, and he would be very happy to have me land¬ 
ed there ; perhaps the Bureau of the Neapolitan steamer was 
number seventy-six, which I would find somewhere on the 
same street, about eight or ten doors jibove—or below. I 
walked up and down a long time, till I was fortunate enough 
to find number seventy-six. The gentleman in that Bureau 
was smoking a cigar, which he continued to smoke in silence 
for two minutes ; at the expiration of which time he calmly 
removed it, and said in reply to my question concerning the 
Ercolano, that there was such a steamer; it was called the 
Ercolano; it was a Neapolitan steamer; it was bound for 
Palermo ; the proper place to apply for passage was at the 
Neapolitan Bureau. He was not exactly certain where the 
Neapolitan Bureau was, but thought it was number sixty- 
nine ; that was his impression—sixty-nine. I told him that 
I had already applied at sixty-nine ; to which he responded 
by a shrug of the shoulders, a pinch of snuff, and some strange 
contortions of the face, as if he had accidentally swallowed 
the snuff-box. It may have been that my manner of speak¬ 
ing the Italian was not clear, or that my understanding of 
the Neapolitan was less so ; at all # events I could make no¬ 
thing of these signs, so I returned to Bureau sixty-nine. There 
were some other officers in sixty-nine this time; and, after 
some consultation, they arrived at the conclusion that it was 
the Bureau of the Neapolitan steamer for Palermo. I offered 
money for my passage ; but they refused to take it, or to give 
me a ticket without it; they said something else was neces¬ 
sary, my passport and certain vises and cartes. Next morn¬ 
ing I got my passport and the vises and cartes , and they still 
refused to give me a ticket. Certain other vises and cartes 
from the Polizia were necessary. I went to the Polizia and 
got certain other vises and cartes , and they still refused to let 
me have a ticket; a certain word was omitted in one of the 
