ccording to the fashions of London, Paris, and
Vienna.

In all the Sicilian towns I found the mob more boisterous and
impudent than in the East, and frequently it was my lot to witness
most diabolical quarrels and fights. It is necessary to be much
more on one's guard against theft and roguery among these people
than among the Arabs and Bedouins. Now I acknowledge how falsely I
had judged the poor denizens of the East when I took them for the
most thievish of tribes. The people here and at Naples were far
worse than they. I was doubly pained on making this discovery, from
the fact that I saw more fasting and praying, and more clergymen in
these countries than any where else. To judge from appearances, I
should have taken the Sicilians and Neapolitans for the most pious
people in the world. But their behaviour towards strangers is rude
in the extreme. Never had I been so impudently stared out of
countenance as in these Sicilian towns: fingers were pointed at me
amidst roars of laughter; the boys even ran after me and jeered at
me--and all because I wore a round straw hat. In Messina I threw
this article away, and dressed according to the fashion which
prevails here and in my own country; but still the gaping did not
cease. In Palermo it was not only the street boys who stood still
to gaze at me, the grandees also did me the same honour, whether I
drove or walked. I once asked a lady the reason of this, and
requested to know if my appearance was calculated either to give
offence or to excite ridicule; she replied that neither was the
case, but that the only thing the citizens remarked in me was that I
went about alone with a servant. In Sicily this was quite an
uncommon circumstance, for there I always saw two ladies walking
together, or a lady and gentleman. Now the grand mystery was
solved; but notwithstanding this, I did not alter my mode of action,
but continued to walk quietly about the town with my servant, for I
preferred being laughed at a little to giving any one the trouble of
accompanying me about every where. At first this staring made me
very uncomfortable; but man can adapt himself to every thing, and I
am no exception to the rule.

The vegetation in Sicily is eminent for its luxuriant loveliness.
Flowers, plants, and shrubs attain a greater height and magnitude
than we find elsewhere. I saw here numerous species of aloes, which
we cultivate laboriously in hot-houses, growing wild, or plant