always green, for orange-trees, olive-trees, carob-trees, laurels,
mastic-trees, tamarisks, cypresses, and pines retain their verdure even
in winter, when nature wears a desolate aspect in our own latitudes.
There is no “season,” so to say, for with a little care all kinds
of vegetables can be had throughout the year. The gardens around
Syracuse are famous above all others, because of the striking manner
in which they contrast with the naked rocks surrounding them. The most
delightful amongst them is the _Intagliatella_, or _Latomia de’ Greci_,
which occupies an old quarry where Greek slaves dressed the stones
used in erecting the palaces of Syracuse. The vegetation there is most
luxuriant; the trunks of the trees rise above masses of shrubs, their
branches are covered with creeping plants, flowers and ripening fruit
cover the paths, and birds without number sing in the foliage. This
earthly paradise is surrounded by precipitous walls of rock covered
with ivy, or bare and white as on the day when Athenian slaves were at
work there.
* * * * *
Sicily lies on the high-road of all the nations who ever disputed the
command of the Mediterranean, and its population consequently consists
of a mixture of the most heterogeneous elements. Irrespectively of
Sicani, Siculi, and other aboriginal nations, whose position amongst
the European family is uncertain, but who probably spoke a language
akin to that of the Latins, we know that Phœnicians and Carthaginians
successively settled on its shores, and that the Greeks were almost
as numerous there as in their native country. Twenty-five centuries
have passed since the Greeks founded their first colony, Naxos, at
the foot of Mount Etna. Soon afterwards Syracuse, Leontini, Catania,
Megara Hyblæa, Messina, and other colonies sprang into existence, until
the whole of the littoral region was in the hands of the Greeks, the
native populations being pushed back into the interior. In Sicily the
Greek met with the same climate, and with rocks and mountains similar
in aspect to those of his native home. The “Marmorean” port and the
wide bay of Syracuse, the acropolis and Mount Hybla, do they not recall
Attica or the Peloponnesus? The fountain of Arethusa, on the island of
Ortygia, which is supplied through underground channels, reminds us
of the fountain of Erasinos and of many others in Hellas, which find
their way through fissures in the limestone rocks to the seashore. The
Syracusans said that the river Alpheus, enamoured of {320} the nymph
Arethusa, did not mingle its waters with those of the Ionian, but found
its way through subterranean channels to the coast of Sicily, where
it rose again at the side of the fountain dedicated to the object of
his adoration, bringing the flowers and fruits of beloved Greece. This
legend bears testimony to the great love which the Greek bore his
native land, whose very fountains and plants were supposed to follow
him into his new home.
If we may judge from the number of inhabitants with which the principal
towns were credited at that time, Sicily must have had a population of
several millions of Greeks. The Carthaginian merchants and soldiers, on
the other hand, though they were the masters of portions of the island
for two or three centuries, never settled upon it, and only a few
walls, coins, and inscriptions bear witness now of their ever having
been present. It has been very judiciously remarked by M. Dennis that
the most striking evidence of their reign is presented in the desolate
sites of the cities of Himera and Selinus. At the same time we must
not forget that the Carthaginians, by intermingling with the existing
population, materially affected the ulterior destinies of the island.
The Romans, who held Sicily for nearly seven centuries, did so in a
still higher degree. Vandals and Goths likewise left traces behind
them. The Saracens, themselves a mixed race, imparted their Southern
impetuosity to the Sicilians, whilst their conquerors, the Normans,
endowed them with the daring and indomitable courage which at that
period animated these sons of the North. In 1071, when the Normans
laid siege to Palermo, no less than five languages were spoken on the
island, viz. Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and vulgar Sicilian. But
Arabic was the tongue of the civilised inhabitants, and even during the
dominion of the Normans inscriptions upon palaces and churches were
written in it. It was at the court of King Roger that Edrisi wrote his
“Geography,” one of the great monuments of science. In 1223 the last
Arabs were made to emigrate to Naples, but by that time much Arab blood
already flowed through the veins of the inhabitants.
Later on, the character of the population was still further modified
by French, Germans, Spaniards, and Aragonese, and all this helped
to make them a people differing in appearance, manners, habits, and
feelings from their Italian neighbours. These islanders look upon every
inhabitant of the mainland as a foreigner. The absence of roads on the
island enabled the different groups of its population to maintain their
distinct idioms and character during a very long period. The Lombards
whom the Romans transplanted to Benevento and Palermo spoke their
native dialect long after it had become extinct in Lombardy. Even now
there are about 50,000 Sicilians who speak this ancient Lombard tongue.
At San Fratello, on a steep hill on the northern coast, this idiom is
spoken with the greatest purity. Nor has the Italian wholly supplanted
the vulgar Sicilian in the interior of the island. We meet with many
Greek and Arab words. One of the most curious words is that of _val_,
which is applied to various districts of Sicily, and is supposed to
have been derived from _vali_, the Arab term for “governor.” The
Sicilian idiom is less sonorous than the Italian. Vowels standing
between consonants are frequently suppressed, and the _o_, and even
the _a_ and _i_ (_ee_), are {321} changed into _oo_, which renders
the speech hard and indistinct. The language lends itself, however,
admirably to poetry, and the Sicilian popular songs are quite equal in
natural grace and delicacy to the much-admired _rispetti_ of Tuscany.
Of all the emigrants who have settled on the island the Albanians
alone have not become merged in the general population. Locally known
as Greci, they still form separate communities, speaking their own
language and observing special religious rites, in several of the towns
of the interior, and more especially at Piana de’ Greci, which occupies
a commanding hill to the south of Palermo. Nor is the fusion amongst
the other races as complete as it appears to be at the first glance.
The population around Mount Etna, who are, perhaps, more purely Greek
in blood than the Greeks themselves, are noted for their grace, gaiety,
and sweetness of disposition. They are the most intelligent portion
of the population of Sicily. Those of Trapani and San Giuliani are
said to be the best-looking, and their women delight the stranger by
the regularity and beauty of their features. The Palermitans, on the
other hand, in whose veins flows much Arab blood, are for the most part
unprepossessing in their appearance. They open their house but rarely
to strangers, and jealously shut up their women in its most retired
part.
The most ferocious usages of war, piracy, and brigandage have kept
their ground longer at Palermo and its environs than anywhere else.
The laws of the _omerta_, or “men of heart,” make vengeance a duty.
_A chi ti toglie il pane, e tu toglili la vita !_ (“Take the life of
him who has taken your bread !”) is its fundamental principle; but in
practice Palermitan vengeance is far from possessing the simplicity
of the Corsican vendetta, for it is complicated by the most atrocious
cruelties. No less than four or five thousand Palermitans are said
to be affiliated to the secret league of the _maffia_, whose members
subsist upon every kind of roguery. Up to 1865 the brigands were
masters in the environs of that town. They virtually laid siege to
the town, separating it from its more distant suburbs. Strangers were
afraid to leave lest they should be murdered or captured by bandits;
and no farmer could harvest his corn or olives, or shear his sheep,
without paying toll to these highwaymen. More than ten years have
passed since then, but in spite of measures of exceptional severity the
maffia still exists.
The history of this association, which dates its origin back to the
time of the Norman kings, remains yet to be written. It has always
flourished most in time of political troubles, and consequent misery.
No doubt things have grown worse in the course of the last twenty
years; taxes have been increased, the conscription established, and
many abrupt changes, such as are inseparable from a new political
regimen, have been introduced. The people, accustomed to put up with
ancient abuses, have not yet learnt to bear the burdens imposed in
connection with the annexation of the island to the kingdom of Italy.
Nevertheless the Sicilians grow more Italian from day to day. Community
of language and of interests attaches the island to the peninsula, and
the time is not far distant when both countries will gravitate in the
same orbit. Italy is most highly interested in establishing feelings of
friendship with the inhabitants of the island, and in developing its
resources. The rapid increase of the population, which is said to have
{322} tripled since 1734, bears witness to the great natural riches of
the country; and what might not be achieved if the barbarous processes
now in force there were superseded by the scientific methods of our own
time?
Sicily was the favourite haunt of Ceres, and in the plain of Catania
this beneficent goddess taught man the art of cultivating the soil.
The Sicilians have not forgotten this teaching, for nearly half the
area is covered with corn-fields; but they have not improved their
system of cultivation since those fabulous times, and improvements can
hardly be effected as long as the restrictions imposed by the feudal
tenure introduced by the Normans are allowed to exist. The agricultural
implements are of a primitive kind, manure is hardly known, and the
fate of the crops depends entirely upon nature. When travelling through
the country districts of Sicily, we are struck by not meeting with
isolated houses. There are no villages, for all the cultivators of the
soil live in towns, and are content to travel daily to their fields,
which are occasionally at a distance of six miles. Sometimes they pass
the night there, in a cavern or a ditch covered with boughs, and at
harvest-time the labourers sleep in improvised sheds. This absence of
human habitations imparts an air of solemn sadness to vast corn-fields
covering valleys and slopes, and we almost fancy we are wandering
through a deserted country, and wonder for whose benefit the crops are
ripening.
Corn-fields cover a greater area than that devoted to the cultivation
of all other objects put together; nevertheless the latter articles
represent a higher pecuniary value. The orchards, vineyards, and
gardens near the towns are a far greater source of wealth than the
distant corn-fields. In former times wheat was the principal article
of export; now Sicily is no longer a granary, but promises to become
a vast emporium of fruit. Even now the crop of oranges grown there,
which consists of seven kinds, subdivided into four hundred varieties,
represents a value of £2,000,000 a year. The marvellous gardens which
surround Palermo are steadily increasing at the expense of the ancient
plantations of ash, and ascend the hills to a height of 1,150 feet.
Hundreds of millions of oranges are exported annually to Continental
Europe, England, and America, and the inferior sorts are converted into
essential oils, citric acid, or citrate of lime. The last is used in
printing stuffs, and Sicily enjoys a monopoly in its manufacture.
Sicily likewise occupies a foremost place as a vine-growing country,
and supplies more than a fourth of the wine produced throughout Italy.
The cultivation of the vine, which is carried on to a large extent by
foreigners, is much better understood there than on the neighbouring
peninsula, and the wines exported from Marsala, Syracuse, Alcamo, and
Milazzo are justly held in high estimation. Excellent wine is also
grown on the southern and western slopes of Mount Etna, to which the
heat of the sun imparts much fire. England and non-Italian Europe are
the great consumers of the wines of Sicily, as they are of its oils,
almonds, cotton, saffron, sumach, and manna, extracted, like that of
the Calabrias, from a kind of ash. Raw silk, which Sicily was the first
to produce in Europe, is likewise exported in considerable quantities.
Sulphur is the great mineral product of the island. The beds vary much
in {323} richness, but even where they contain only five or six per
cent. a light brought to the walls of the mine will cause the sulphur
to boil like pitch. The blocks extracted from the mine are piled up in
the open air, where they remain exposed to the destructive action of
the atmosphere. The fragments are then heaped up over the flame of a
furnace, which causes the stones to split, the melted sulphur flowing
into moulds placed beneath. By this primitive process only two-thirds
of the sulphur contained in the rock are extracted, but it proves
nevertheless most remunerative. About 200,000 tons of sulphur, or more
than two-thirds of the sulphur required for manufacturing purposes
throughout Europe, are annually exported from Sicily, and the known
deposits of the island have been computed to contain from 40,000,000 to
50,000,000 tons. To the north of Girgenti and in other parts of Sicily
sulphureous plaster has been used in the construction of the houses,
and the atmosphere there is at all times impregnated with an odour of
sulphur.
Rock-salt is met with in the same formations as the sulphur, and in
quantities almost inexhaustible, but salt is not a rare article, and
even the Sicilians prefer to gather it from the salt swamps extending
along the coast, the most productive of which are near Trapani, at the
western extremity of the island. At the same spot the sea yields the
best coral of Sicily. The tunny fishery is carried on mostly in the
great bays between Trapani and Palermo, while most of the swordfish
are captured in the Strait of Messina. The seas of Sicily abound in
fish, and the islanders boast of being the most expert fishermen of the
Western Mediterranean.
Until recently communications in Sicily were kept up almost exclusively
by sea. In 1866 the only carriage road of the island, which connects
Messina with Palermo, was hardly made use of by travellers, and even
now the most important mines of sulphur and salt communicate with
the seashore only by mule-paths; and the inhabitants are actually
opposed to the construction of roads, from fear of their interfering
with the existing modes of transport. The road which connects the
harbour of Terranova with Caltanissetta has been under construction
for twenty years, although it is the only one which joins the interior
of the country to the sea-coast. Railways to some extent supply this
deficiency of roads, but are being built very slowly, hardly more than
250 miles being at present open for traffic.
Palermo the “happy,” the capital of Sicily, is one of the great towns
of Italy. At the time of the Arabs it surpassed all towns of the
peninsula in population, but at present, though increasing rapidly, it
yields to Naples, Milan, and Rome. No other town of Europe can boast
of an equally delicious climate, nor is any fairer to look upon from a
distance. Bold barren mountains enclose a marvellous garden, the famous
“shell of gold” (_conca d’oro_), from the midst of which rise towers
and domes, palms with fan-shaped leaves, and pines, commanded in the
south by the huge ecclesiastical edifices of Monreale. Termini is the
only city of Sicily which rivals Palmero in the beauty of its site, and
it truly merits its epithet of _splendissime_. {324}
[Illustration: Fig. 118.—PALERMO AND MONTE PELLEGRINO.]
But the beauty of the country contrasts most painfully with the misery
and filth reigning in most of the quarters of the capital. Palermo has
its sumptuous edifices. It boasts of a cathedral lavishly decorated;
its royal palace and palatine chapel, covered with mosaics, and
harmoniously combining the beauties of Byzantine, Moorish, and Roman
art, are unique of their kind; the church of Monreale, in one of its
suburbs, may challenge Ravenna by the number of its mosaics. There are
Moorish palaces, a few modern monuments, and two broad streets, which a
Spanish governor had made in the shape of a cross. But, besides these,
we only meet with dark and narrow streets and wretched tenements, the
windows of which are stuffed with rags. Down to a recent period Palermo
was undeserving its Greek name of “Port of all Nations.” Enclosed
within mountains, and having no communications with the interior, its
commerce was merely local, and its exports were limited to the produce
of its fisheries and of its gardens. Though {325} far more populous
than Genoa, its commerce is only half that of the Ligurian city, but it
is rapidly on the increase.
Trapani, a colony of the Carthaginians like Palermo, and Marsala, so
famous for its wines, at the western extremity of the island, are
proportionately far busier than the capital. Trapani, built on a
sickle-shaped promontory, carries on a lively trade. The salt marshes
near it are amongst the most productive in all Italy;[110] tunny,
coral, and sponge fishing is carried on; and the artisans of the town
are skilled as weavers, masons, and jewellers. The harbour is one of
the best in Italy; the roadstead is well sheltered by the outlying
Ægadian Islands; and the ambition of the inhabitants, who look forward
to a time when Trapani will be the principal emporium for the trade
with Tunis, is likely to be realized on the completion of a railway
to Messina. The harbour of Mazzara, the outlet for the produce of the
inland towns of Castelvetrano and Salemi, lies closer to Tunis, but its
shelter is indifferent. As to Marsala—the “Mars ed Allah,” or God’s
haven, of the Arabs—its port was filled up by Charles V., and has only
recently been reconstructed. It is, however, not of sufficient depth
for large vessels, and only salt and wine are exported from it to
France and England. Marsala occupies the site of the ancient city of
Lilybæum, which had a population of 900,000 souls when Diodorus Siculus
wrote his Geography. It has recently become famous in consequence of
the landing there of Garibaldi and his thousand followers in 1860, and
its being the spot from which they entered upon the triumphant march
which ended in the battle of the Volturno and the capture of Gaeta.
Messina the “noble” is the great commercial centre of Sicily, and the
only port of that island where vessels of all nations meet. Messina is
a stage on the ocean high-roads which join or connect Western Europe
and the Levant. Its roadstead is one of the safest, and vessels in
distress are certain to find protection there. Moreover, vessels coming
from the Tyrrhenian, and fearful of encountering the dangerous currents
of the strait during a storm, may easily find shelter at Milazzo, to
the north of it. The port of Messina is formed by a sickle-shaped
tongue of land, making a natural breakwater.[111] There are few
cities in Europe which are more exposed to the destructive action of
earthquakes than Messina, and the traces of the great shock of 1783,
which swamped the vessels in the harbour, undermined the palaces along
the seashore, and caused the death of more than a thousand persons,
have not yet entirely disappeared.
Catania, the sub-Etnean, as its Greek name implies, is menaced not
only by earthquakes, but also by volcanic eruptions. It, too, enjoys
a high amount of commercial prosperity, and exports the surplus
produce of the towns situated at the foot of the volcano, among
which are Acireale, with its orange groves; Giarre, with its dusty
streets; Paterno, abounding in thermal springs; Aderno, on the {326}
summit of a rock of lava; Bronte, at the junction of two streams of
scoriæ; and Randazza, commanded by an ancient Norman castle. Catania
also monopolizes the export of the produce of the inland districts
of Eastern Sicily; it is the great railway centre of the island, and
several carriage roads converge upon it. Its port has grown too small
for the business carried on there, and it is proposed to enlarge it by
means of piers and breakwaters.
[Illustration: Fig. 119.—TRAPANI AND MARSALA.
Scale 1 : 270,000.]
It is quite natural that on an island, no locality of which is more
than forty miles from the sea, all great towns should be met with on
the coast, where there are greater facilities for commerce. Still a few
centres of population sprang up in the interior, either in the midst of
the most fertile districts or at the crossings of the most-frequented
lines of communication. Nicosia, the Lombard city, is thus a natural
place of passage between Catania and the northern coast of the island.
Corleone occupies a similar position with respect to Palermo and the
African slope {327} of the island. Castro Giovanni, the ancient Enna,
likewise occupies a privileged position, for it stands on an elevated
plateau in the very centre of the island: a large stone near it is said
by the inhabitants to be an ancient altar of Ceres. Piazza Armerina
_l’opulentissime_, and Caltagirone, surnamed _la gratissima_ on account
of the fertility of its fields, are both populous towns, which carry on
a considerable commerce through Terranova, in the building of which the
stones of the old temples of Gela have been utilised. Caltanissetta,
farther to the west, and its neighbour Canicatti, export their produce
through the port of Licata.
In the south-eastern corner of Sicily there are likewise several inland
towns of some importance, amongst which Ragusa and Modica are the most
considerable. Comiso, an industrious place, lies farther to the west,
and is surrounded by cotton plantations. The valley of the Hipparis,
sung by Pindar, separates it from Vittoria, the saline plains of which
furnish much of the soda exported to Marseilles. Noto, like most towns
in that part of Sicily, is at some distance from the coast, but its
twin city, Avola, stands upon the shore of the Ionian Sea. Noto and
Avola were both overthrown by the earthquake of 1693, and have been
rebuilt with geometrical regularity near their former sites. The fields
of Avola, though not very fertile by nature, are amongst the best
cultivated of the island, and it is there only that the production of
the sugar-cane has attained to any importance.
On the northern slope of the hills forming the back-bone of the island
there are several other towns inhabited by the agricultural population.
Lentini, the ancient Leontini, which boasts of being the oldest city in
the island, is at present only a poor place, having been wholly rebuilt
since the earthquake of 1693. Militello has been restored since the
same epoch, and Grammicheli was founded in the eighteenth century to
afford a shelter for the inhabitants of Occhiala, which was destroyed
by an earthquake. Vizzini and Licodia di Vizzini are remarkable on
account of the beds of lava near them, which alternate with layers of
marine fossils, and Mineo stands near a small crater of the swamp of
Palici. The popular songs of Mineo are famous throughout Sicily. The
marvellous “stone of poetry” is shown near it, and all those who kiss
it are said to become poets.
[Illustration: Fig. 120.—SYRACUSE.
Scale 1 : 100,000.]