e; those running
along the middle finger, as I have described, are on a level, while
those which lead up from the water are at right angles to them, and are
occasionally steep, so that, in most instances, they consist of a broad
flight of steps, the best known of which are the Nix Mangiare stairs,
leading from the chief landing-place at the Great Port to the upper part
of the town. The houses are balconied, lofty, and spacious, with
terraces on the roofs, whence, in clear weather, Etna is visible; and
where, in the cool of the evening, the inhabitants may enjoy the
refreshing breeze from the sea, and behold it, in its intense blueness,
dotted with white sails gliding in all directions over its surface. It
is full of fine churches, the towers of which rise above the flat roofs
of the palace-like houses, the whole surrounded by a broad walk, and a
fringe of ramparts bristling with cannon.

It is to that part of the fortifications facing the mouth of the Great
Port that I particularly wish to conduct the reader.

It was some four hours or so past noon when the boat of a British
man-of-war ran in alongside the landing-place at the fort of Nix
Mangiare stairs, and out of her stepped two persons, whose blue jackets,
adorned with crown-and-anchor buttons, and the patches of white cloth on
their cohars proclaimed them to belong to the exalted rank of midshipmen
in the Royal Navy. But many might envy the free joyous laugh in which
they indulged, seemingly on finding themselves on shore, and the light
elastic tread with which they sprang up the long flight of steps before
them, distancing, in a moment, several civilians and soldiers of various
ranks, who, puffing and blowing, with handkerchiefs at their foreheads,
were toiling upwards, while they arrived at the summit without even
giving way to a gasp, and as cool, apparently, as when they landed.
Their ears, as they went up, were saluted by--

"_Yah hassare, carita_--Nix mangiar these ten days, sar--Mi moder him
die plague, sar! mi fader him die too," and other pathetic cries and
similar equally veracious assertions, from numerous cripples, deformed
creatures, and children of all ages, in rags and tatters, who
endeavoured to excite their compassion by exhibiting their wounds and
scars. The two youths had time to put their hands in their pockets, and
to distribute a few pence to the wretched-looking beings on their way;
both pocket and heart, if that were possible, being ma