to much that I had seen at the windows of some
of the most elegant houses situated in the principal streets of the
towns of Sicily.

A very good idea of the manners and customs of the people may be
easily obtained by strolling, on Sundays and fete days, near
Polanka, and visiting the eating-houses.

I will introduce my reader to one of these places. In one corner,
on the ground, burns a fierce fire, surrounded by innumerable pots
and pans, between which are wooden spits with beef and pork,
simmering and roasting in the most enticing manner. An ungainly
wooden framework, with a long broad plank on it, occupies the middle
of the room, and is covered with a cloth whose original colour it
would be an impossibility to determine. This is the table at which
the guests sit. During the dinner itself the old patriarchal
customs are observed, with this difference, that not only do all the
guests eat out of one dish, but that all the eatables are served up
in one, and one only. Beans and rice, potatoes and roast beef,
Paradise apples and onions, etc., etc., lie quietly side by side,
and are devoured in the deepest silence. At the end of the repast,
a goblet, filled with wine, or sometimes merely water, is passed
from hand to hand, and after this had gone round, the company begin
to talk. In the evening dancing is vigorously pursued to the music
of a guitar; unfortunately, it was Lent during my visit, when all
public amusements are prohibited. The people themselves, however,
were not so particular, and were only too ready, for a few reaux, to
go through the Sammaquecca and Refolosa--the national dances of the
country. I had soon seen sufficient; the gestures and movements of
the dancers were beyond all description unbecoming, and I could but
pity the children, whose natural modesty cannot fail to be nipped in
the bud by witnessing the performance of these dances.

I was equally displeased with a remarkable custom prevalent here, in
accordance with which the death of a little child is celebrated by
its parents as a grand festival. They name the deceased child an
angelito, (little angel), and adorn it in every possible way. Its
eyes are not closed, but, on the contrary, opened as wide as
possible, and its cheeks are painted red; it is then dressed out in
the finest clothes, crowned with flowers, and placed in a little
chair in a kind of niche, which also is ornamented with flowers.
The relations and neighbours then come