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A bold and lawless race, accustomed to be always on horseback and living nearly in a state of nature, wanders over these plains. Among them are many professed robbers, who render travelling dangerous, and are already beginning to form into small bands. They live almost entirely on the flesh of cattle, without regarding to whom they belong; killing an animal at every meal, and after satisfying their hunger, leaving the remainder of the carcase to the birds of prey and the wild animals of the desert. These men are well known, and frequently pointed out in the villages, but the inefficacy of the laws leaves them at liberty, until some act of uncommon atrocity excites the attention of the magistrates. Even after being seized, they frequently make their escape, either through the carelessness of their keepers, or the delays of justice; and return with increased avidity to their former mode of life. In the villages and small towns thinly scattered over these plains, great dissoluteness of morals prevails. The mixture of races is a source of endless corruption, to which are joined a climate inducing indolence and voluptuousness, and the total absence of all refined methods of passing time away. The highest delight both to women and men, is to swing about in their hammocks, and smoke çigars. Gambling to excess, and tormenting of bulls, are their principal amusements. Religion has no beneficial effect upon their morals; if they commit sins, they confess them and are forgiven. To all this is joined an apathy which is astonishing Liveliness formis no part of their character;

on the contrary, they generally speak in a mild and drawling tone, which gives the highest idea of indifference, and almost of a dis inclination to the trouble of opening their mouths. When a little animated, however, this softness in the voice of the women, it must be confessed, is not unpleasing, until its monotony becomes tiresome to the ear of an European.

I have not entered into a detail of the various races which people this country, as they are composed of the same materials which exist in all the Spanish colonies of South America; and have been frequently and accurately described. Over all, as is well known, until very lately, the European was considered as pre-eminent, frequently without any just cause.

Next in rank were

the Creoles, or decendants of European parents, and then a longsuccession of the various shades of mixture with Indian or African blood. The late revolutions in this country have abolished some of these distinctions, and seem likely in time to destroy still more; the probable consequences of which are worthy of serious attention.

THE SICILIAN CHARACTER.

From Galt's Voyages and Travels.

Our knowledge of the charac ters of nations is derived from history; but there are moral features among every people which history never describes. In estimating the character of the Sicilians, this consideration ought to be particularly borne in mind. The island has been so long connected with Naples, that the two countries, in

opinion,

opinion, have become almost inseparably blended; and much of that bloody colouring, which darkens the complexion of their general national character, may, properly, belong only to the Neapolitan. Still, however, the circumstances of the Sicilian government, from an early æra, serve to shew, that the political attachments of the people have never been lasting, nor have they, in any epoch of their story, evinced that they possessed that resolute courage which has often enabled small communities to acquire immortal renown, in their opposition to superior powers.

The Sicilians are rather a sly than a cunning race; perhaps no nation in Europe possesses so much naiveté. Loquacious and ingenious, they make more use of persuasion in their dealings than any other people. It is not enough that a Sicilian objects the high price of what he desires to purchase; he expatiates on the inferiority of the quality; recalls to recollection how long he has been a customer; enumerates, one by one, counting them on his fingers, the circumstance of unlucky bargains that he has had; flatteringly contrasts the opulence of the English with the poverty of the Sicilians; animadverts on the politics of the government; magnifies the value of his ready-money; insinuates that he may change his merchant; and often retires, and returns several times, before he offers his ultimatum. Nor in selling does he practise less address. There is not a single point of his wares that does not possess something extraordinary, or beautiful: no other shop in the town bas any thing like them; so cheap, or so excellent. If the

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The inhabitants of this island are, in the proper sense of the term, highly superstitious, but the dicta of ignorance are so interwoven with the creeds of popery, that many notions of vulgir supersti tion are regarded as essentials of religion. The only exception is a belief in the effects of the influence of evil eyes; and even over this, the priesthood have acquired jurisdiction. For they persuade the people to buy bits of blessed rags and paper, which, when worn suspended round the neck, have the effect, as they pretend, of neutralizing the malignancy. The influence of an evil look is instantaneous; and the person who happens to glance it, may be uncon scious of what he does: it smites the subject with sudden malady, or impresses his mind with lugubrious images, and unfits him for the prosecution of premeditated intentions. It is useless to speculate on the. fantasies of the human mind; but, in this case, the constant flickering of electricity in this climate, and the occasional breathing of pestiferous exhalations, from the vegetable corruption in the bottoms of the valleys, afford a plausible reason for the sudden distempers and dejections which are ascribed to the aspect of ungracious eyes. The same superstition is well known in Scotland; but it is more generally prevalent among the Sicilians than the Scotch. Whether it is, among us, an imported or indigenous belief, cannot now be ascertained. Over all the ancient extent of the papal empire, there 2 H 2

is a great similarity in the topics of vulgar credulity.

The Sicilians have, certainly, a very keen relish of humour; and, now and then, one may perceive in them a strong trait of peculiar ity, not individual but national, which, notwithstanding their an cient proficiency, is an assurance to think that they may yet attain some literary superiority which shall be regarded as original. A description of manners and customs, by a genuine Sicilian, otherwise properly qualified, would equally surprise and delight.

SICILIAN NOBILITY.

From the same.

Of the character and condition of the Sicilian nobles I have uniformly received but one opinion. The time of by far the greater number is spent in the pursuit of amusement, and of any other object than the public good. The most of them are in debt, and the incomes of but few are adequate to their wants: many are in a state of absolute beggary.

One evening, as I happened to be returning home, I fell in with a procession of monks and soldiers bearing an image of St. Francis; and, not having seen any thing of the kind before, I went with the crowd into a church towards which

the procession was moving. While reckoning the number of the friars as they entered, and having reached a hundred and seventy, all excellent subjects for soldiers, a welldressed gentleman came up to me, and, bowing, pointed to some of the ornaments as objects worthy of a stranger's curiosity; but, per

ceiving me shy of entering into conversation with him, and the procession entering the church at the same time, he walked, or was forced by the current of the crowd, away.

The idol being placed near the high altar, the crowd began to chant a hymn. As they all fell on their knees, and my tight preju dices and small clothes would not permit me to do the same, I turned into one of the side chapels, and, leaning against the railing of the altar, began to speculate on the spectacle before me, when the stranger again accosted me. Somewhat disconcerted by the inter ruption, and by the forwardness of the man, I abruptly quitted my place. But, before I had moved two steps, he approached, and, M, and my palace is just ops bowing, said, I am the Baron posite. At this instant the wor shippers rose, and the procession turning to go out at one of the side doors near where we were standing, before I could retreat, I found myself involved in the crowd, and obliged to go with the stream. When I reached the street, I found the stranger again at my side. This is very extraordinary, thought 1; and, without seeming to notice him, walked away. He followed; and when we had got out of the nucleus of the throng, he seized me firmly by the arm, and drew me aside. Enraged and alarmed at this mysterious treatment, I shook him fiercely from me. For about the time that one might count twenty, he seemed to hesitate; and then, suddenly coming back, repeated, in Italian, with considerable energy, "I, I am the Barch M. This is my palace; but! have nothing to eat!" I looked at

the

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Mistaking my silence and astonishment, he pulled out his watch, and, placing it in my hand, entreated me to give him some money. As I had no disposition to become a pawnbroker, I returned it with some expressions of surprise, and took out my purse with the intention of giving it to him, for it only contained two or three small pieces. But here all the solemnity of the adventure terminated. He snatched it out of my hand, and, emptying the contents into his own, returned it; and wishing me a good night, ran into the gateway.

THE IDRIOTS.

From the same.

Idra, as far as my recollection serves, was not of any consequence in the brilliant periods of Grecian history. The present city originated in a small colony of boatmen belonging to the Morea, who took refuge here from the tyranny of the Turks About forty years ago they had multiplied to a considerable number; their little village began to assume the appearance of a town, and they had vessels that went as far as Constantinople.

In their mercantile transactions, the Idriots acquired the reputation of greater integrity than the other Greeks, as well as of being the most intrepid navigators in the Archipelago; and they were, of course, regularly preferred. Their

honesty and industry obtained its reward. When the French revovolution broke out, they had seve ral large ships, which they loaded with grain, and sent to France, during the scarcity which prevailed at the beginning of the late war. The profit arising from these voyages enabled them to increase the the number of their shipping; and they now possess eighty ships, of more than two hundred and fifty tons, besides several hundreds of smaller vessels and wherries. They have two or three ships, not inferior in strength and size to frigates. At Malta and Messina, I was told that the number of the Idriot shipping was much greater; but this was a mistake, arising from considering vessels belonging to the islands of Specia, Paros, Myconi, and Ipsera, as Idriots. These islands resemble Idra in their insti tutions; and the inhabitants possess the same character for commercial activity.

In paying their sailors, Idra and its sister islands have a peculiar custom. The whole amount of the freight is considered as a common stock from which the charges of victualling the ship are deducted. The remainder is then divided into two equal parts; one is allotted to the crew, and equally shared among them, without reference to age or rank

The other part is appropri ated to the ship and the captain.

The capital of the ca go is a trust given to the captain and the crew on certain fixed conditions. For all voyages to the Levant, a profit of twenty per cent. on their respective shares, is allowed to the contributers of the capital, and the same in voyages which do not extend to the westward beyond Malta and Sicily; but in voyages to

France

France and Spain, within the Straits, thirty per cent. is given. All the profits after paying all the capitalists, is divided on the same principle, and by the same rule, as a freight carned by charter. Losses by accidents of navigation are sustained by the capitalists; but those arising from bad sales, fall on the captain and the crew, who are obliged to make good the deficiency. The first time that I visited this island, there was a vessel in the port, which, by an unsuccessful voyage, had incurred a loss of no less than four thousand pounds sterling; and this sum the crew and captain were then making good to the capitalists.

The Idriots never insure their ships or cargoes. The vessels generally belong to a great number of persons, and some of the capitalists have only five or ten pounds sterling embarked in one bottom. The value of their several shares is not of sufficient importance to induce the owners to think of insuring them. In the early period of their history, to purchase a cargo of grain, for it is chiefly by their trade in that article that the Idriots have acquired their wealth, was in some sort a public undertaking. The whole community was concerned in it.

The character and manners of the common Idriot sailors, from the moral effect of these customs, is much superior, in regularity, to the ideas that we are apt to entertain of sailors. They are sedate, well dressed, well bred, shrewd, informed, and speculative. They seem to form a class in the orders of mankind, which has no existence among us. By their voyages, they acquire a liberality of notion,

which we expect only among gentlemen; while, in their domestic circumstances, their conduct is suitable to their condition. The Greeks are all traditionary historians, and possess much of that kind of knowledge to which the term "learning" is usually applied. This, mingled with the other information of the Idriots, gives them that advantageous character of mind, which, I think, they pos

sess.

The town is certainly a very extraordinary place. The houses rise from the border of the port, which is in the form of a horse-shoe, in snccessive tiers, to a great height, and many of them appear on the pinnacles of cliffs which would make a Bath or an Edinburgh garreteer giddy to look from. The buildings are all brightly whitewashed; and a number of windmills being, almost constantly, in motion on the heights, the effect of the scene, with the addition of the bustle on the wharfs below, is, at once, surprising, and uncommonly cheerful.

There are upwards of forty pa rochial churches in the town; and two of them are adorned with handsome steeples. Idra forms part of the diocese of Egina and Paros, one of the richest bishoprics of Greece. The net income is estimated at upwards of six hundred pounds sterling. The episcopal residence is in Egina, but the bishop visits Idra every year. The population of the town is said to exceed twenty thousand souls; and I think it is not exaggerated.

There were, when I was there, no public schools but those of the parochial priests. Eight of the principal

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