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Full Download PDF of Graphene To Polymer/ Graphene Nanocomposites. Emerging Research and Opportunities 1st Edition - Ebook PDF All Chapter
Full Download PDF of Graphene To Polymer/ Graphene Nanocomposites. Emerging Research and Opportunities 1st Edition - Ebook PDF All Chapter
Full Download PDF of Graphene To Polymer/ Graphene Nanocomposites. Emerging Research and Opportunities 1st Edition - Ebook PDF All Chapter
CHAPTER V.
Departure from Malta.—Arrival at Sicily.—Syracuse Ruins.—Ear of
Dionysius.
Our vessel landed her cargo at Malta, and then took in ballast
and sailed for Palermo, in Sicily, to load with fruit. I preferred to cross
immediately over to Syracuse, and take Mount Ætna in my way,
being very desirous not to lose a sight of this celebrated volcano. I
found a Sicilian vessel about to sail, and took passage in her. She
was a polacre, having the masts of single sticks from top to bottom,
instead of three or four pieces joined together, like the masts of
English and American vessels. I could not help laughing at the
oddities of the crew: there were fifteen of them, although the vessel
was not above seventy tons burthen. They were the queerest ship’s
company I ever saw; all captains and mates, and no common
sailors. Whatever was to be done was everybody’s business: there
was no discipline, no order, no concert; all was hurly-burly, and
scampering here and there, and tumbling head over heels.
Which was the commander, nobody could tell, for every one was
giving orders. The slightest manœuvre caused a clatter and bawling
that made me think the masts were going overboard. If there was a
rope as big as a tom-cod-line to be pulled, the whole crew would
string themselves along it, yo! heave ho! tug it an inch and a half,
puff and blow, thump and clamor, as if it were a case of life and
death. Every man must have a finger in what was going on, even to
cuffing the cabin-boy. The men squatted down upon deck to their
meals all in a group, and fell to cracking jokes and cutting capers
together. The helmsman sat in a chair to steer, and moved his seat
as often as he luffed or bore away. A little hop-off-my-thumb fellow,
with a comically dirty face and ragged breeches, sat upon a bucket
to watch the hour-glass in the binnacle. We had only seventy or
eighty miles to sail from Malta to Sicily, with a fair wind and a smooth
sea, but the fuss and clatter during the navigation of this short space
were prodigious. All hands were running fore and aft, looking out
ahead and astern, bustling around the man at the helm, peeping at
the compass, and jabbering and gesticulating as if they were in the
most imminent danger.
At daylight the next morning, we found ourselves close under the
Sicilian shore, with Mount Ætna in the north, towering up majestically
to the heavens, like a huge pyramid of snow with a black spot at the
top. It was more than seventy miles off. About ten in the forenoon we
arrived at Syracuse, a city which was once ten times as big as
Boston, but is now almost entirely depopulated. It has a noble
harbor, but we found only a few fishing-boats there; and when we
landed at the quay, hardly a living being was to be seen: everything
looked solitary, ruinous, and forlorn. I walked through the streets, but
saw no signs of trade, commerce, or industry. A few people were
sitting lazily before their doors, sunning themselves; and numbers of
beggars dogged my heels wherever I went. Now and then I met a
donkey with a pannier of greens, but no such thing as a wagon or
chaise.
When I got to the market-place, I saw groups of people sitting in
the sun or lounging idly about, but no business doing. I could not
help smiling to see a constable, who was strutting up and down to
keep the peace among this pack of lazy fellows. He wore a great,
long, tattered cloak, a huge cocked hat, a sword, and he had a most
flaming, fiery visage, with a nose like a blood-beet. I never saw such
a swaggering figure in my life, before. He happened to spy a little
urchin pilfering a bunch of greens, on which he caught him by the
nape of the neck with one hand, and drawing his sword with the
other, gave him a lusty thwacking with the flat of the blade. The little
rogue kicked and squalled, and made a most prodigious uproar,
which afforded great amusement to the crowd: they seemed to be
quite familiar with such adventures.
I walked out into the country, and was struck with astonishment at
the sight of the ruins scattered all round the neighborhood. They
extend for miles in every direction. Walls, arches, columns, remains
of temples, theatres and palaces met the eye at every step. Here
and there were little gardens among the ruins, where artichokes
were growing, but hardly a human being was to be seen. I came at
length to the remains of a large theatre, consisting of a semicircle of
stone steps, and found a mill stream tumbling down the middle of it.
A ragged peasant was lying lazily in the sun among the ruins. I
asked him what building it was, but he was totally ignorant of the
matter, and could only reply that it was “cosa antica”—something
ancient. Presently I discovered an enormous excavation in the solid
rock, as big as a house, which excited my curiosity very strongly. I
could not imagine the use of it, till I luckily met an old Capuchin friar,
plodding along in his coarse woollen gown; and learnt from him that
this was the famous “Ear of Dionysius,” where that tyrannical king
used to confine such persons as fell under his suspicion. It is a most
curious place, hollowed out in the shape of the human ear, and
forming a vast cavern: in the top is a little nook or chamber, where
the tyrant used to sit and hear what the prisoners said. The lowest
whisper was heard distinctly in this spot; so that the prisoners were
sure to betray themselves if they held any conversation together.
While I stood wondering at this strange perversion of human
ingenuity, I was startled by the appearance of a grim-looking fellow,
who pulled out a pistol as he approached me. My first impulse was to
grasp my trusty cudgel, and flourish it at him with a fierce air of
defiance, for I took him to be a robber, of course. To my surprise he
burst out a laughing, and told me he had come on purpose to show
me the wonderful effect of sound in the Ear. He bade me go into the
further end of the cavern, while he fired the pistol at the entrance. I
did so, and the effect was like the roaring of thunder: I was glad to
clap my hands to my ears and run out as fast as I could. I gave the
fellow a few cents for his trouble, and told him I had never before got
so much noise for so little money.
I continued to ramble about among the ruins, which seemed to
have no end. The almond trees were in full bloom, and the orange
trees were bowing down under loads of ripe fruit. Flocks of magpies
were flitting about, but everything was silent and deserted. Now and
then I met a countryman jogging lazily along upon a donkey, or an
old woman driving her beast with a load of vine-stalks, which are
used in the city to heat ovens. I could not help wondering to see so
fine a territory lie utterly neglected; but the indolence of the
inhabitants is the cause of all. A very little labor will earn a loaf of
bread, and most of them are satisfied with this. The climate is so
mild, that ragged clothes occasion no discomfort, and hardly
anybody minds going in rags. The soil is so rich as scarcely to
require art or industry in the cultivation. The oranges and the grapes
grow with hardly any care, and the husbandman lives a lazy life, with
but little to do except to pick the fruit and make the wine.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and History
of the Indians of America.
CHAPTER II.
The West Indies continued.—Discovery of Hayti.—Generosity of the
Cacique.—Testimony of Columbus in favor with the Indians.—
Character of the natives.—Columbus erects a cross.—Indian
belief.—Effect of the Spanish invasion.—The Cacique.
Something Wonderful.