did not
really know. "The memory of man," he said, "works very imperfectly, and
to understand these things one ought to study the science of geology."

In the afternoon we went across country to a spot on the route, past
which the people had already begun to come. I asked, what they had been
doing at Trecastagne all night. They told me that the journey from
Catania takes about three hours, more or less according to the ability of
the runner, so that they begin to arrive somewhere about 3 a.m. and keep
on arriving all the morning; and others come from other villages on the
eastern slopes. Then they make a row till the church is opened and the
nudi go in and light their candles before S. Alfio. Some of them go on
their knees and lick the stone floor of the church all the way from the
entrance to the altar, but this is being discouraged because it covers
the floor with blood and is considered not to be hygienic. Perhaps it
might also be well to prohibit the running with bare feet, for that must
also make the floor in an unhygienic condition, to say nothing of the
roads that lead to the village. Some take stones and beat their breasts,
and they all shout continually "Con buona fede, Viva S. Alfio!" After
Mass they dress and eat and drink. Some of them have carried their food
on their backs, others have friends who have brought it in their carts,
and the food includes eels, which come from the Lake of Lentini; thus
they enjoy the luxury of eating fish on the Slopes of Etna and moreover
fish from the place of S. Alfio's martyrdom. At midday the car bearing
the three saints is brought out into the street, but this, it seems, does
not interest the nudi; they have run naked to the shrine, they have
lighted their candles, they have performed their vow and are now free to
enjoy themselves. Of course, those who suffer from hernia do not attempt
to run until after they believe themselves to be cured of that complaint;
but rheumatic patients are often much better after running to
Trecastagne, the exertion has upon them an effect like that of a Turkish
bath, but it knocks them up in other ways.

By the afternoon, when it is time to return, what with the running, the
walking, the driving, the fasting, the shouting, the religious
exaltation, the want of sleep, the eating and drinking, the fireworks and
the jollity of the festa, many of them are drunk. Joe says the festa is
a continuation of some Bacchic festival, and this is