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half of the city with the ground. To the S. of Messina, about the middle of the Eastern side of the island, stands Catania, remarkable for having been visited by several tremendous earthquakes: one of these, in 1693, completely laid it in ruins, and destroyed 18,000 people. It has revived, however, with great splendour, and has much more the features of a metropolis than Palermo: most of the edifices have an air of magnificence unknown in other parts of the island, and the town has a title to rank among the elegant cities of Europe. It's university is celebrated through the whole island, and it's inhabitants have always been noted for their superiority in politeness of manners over the other Sicilians. There are many religious edifices in Catania: one of these is remarkable as the dwelling-place of the successors of the Knights of Malta, so long the terror of the Crescent. The volcano of Etna, or Gibello as it is also called, from the Arabic word Gebel, signifying a mountain, is about 15 miles to the N. W. of Catania. The circumference of it's base is upwards of 60 miles; and thence it rises, like a pyramid, to the height of 10,940 feet above the level of the sea. The crater is upwards of two miles in circuit, and presents the appearance of an inverted cone. The mountain contains an epitome of the different climates throughout the globe; presenting at once all the seasons of the year, and almost every variety of produce. It is accordingly divided into three distinct zones, or regions, known by the names of the cultivated region, the woody region, and the desert region in the first of these, pasture, corn fields, vineyards, and fruit trees of nearly every description, are extremely abundant; here are said to be no less than 77 towns and villages, numerous monasteries, and a population of 120,000 souls. In succeeding to the woody or temperate region, the scene changes; instead of suffocating heat, the air has a genial freshness; the surface and soil present great inequalities, and are covered with a variety of trees, which diminish in size towards the upper zone. In this last, vegetation entirely disappears, and the surface is a dreary expanse of snow and ice. The summit presents a prospect of unrivalled beauty and grandeur, embracing a wide extent of land and sea in a clear day, Etna may be distinctly seen from Valetta, the capital of Malta, a distance of 112 miles. The number of eruptions on record, to which this volcano has been subject, is said to amount to 81; but of these not more than 10 are supposed to have issued from the highest crater, the others having torn openings in the sides of the mountain. Syracuse has lost all it's ancient magnificence and splendour; but still possesses an excellent and beautiful harbour, capable of receiving vessels of the greatest burden, and of containing a numerous fleet. At present, the only inhabited part is the island formerly called Ortygia, with a small portion of Acradina: it is walled, and entered by drawbridges. The cathedral is the ancient temple of Minerva. The catacombs still exist, and form a remarkable feature of Syracuse: they are only seven or eight feet high; but their extent is such that they form a kind of subterranean city, with a number of narrow streets, some of which are said to be a mile long. The speaking grotto, or, as it was called by the ancients, the Ear of Dionysius, is a cave 170 feet long, 60 high, and about 30 wide, with so strong an echo, that the slightest noise made in it is heard in the small chamber near the entrance, in which Dionysius is said to have listened to the conversation of his prisoners. The fountain of Arethusa has lost nearly all its poetry, being now the resort of the laundresses of Syracuse. Palermo, the capital of Sicily and the residence of the Viceroy, stands on the Northern coast of the island, towards it's W. extremity: it is situated on the Western shore of a bay, in a beautiful plain, presenting the appearance of a magnificent garden, filled with fruit trees and watered by rivulets. The form of the city is nearly circular: it is fortified, though in a weak manner, towards the sea; but on the land side it is altogether open. The cathedral of Palermo is one of the finest Gothic buildings in Sicily. There are some catacombs in the city, the property of certain monks, celebrated for the singular property of converting into mummies the bodies which are placed in them, and which are therefore arranged in attitudes as whimsical as they are disgusting. Palermo is likewise celebrated for a splendid festival, which is annually held in honour of St. Rosalia; who once, under the ingenious management of a few friars, delivered the city from the plague, after she had been dead and buried for five centuries.

43. THE MALTESE ISLANDS lie about 45 miles from the Southern shore of Sicily, and 150 to the E. of the coast of Africa, in the neighbourhood of Cape Bon: they are nearly due North from Lebida, the ancient Leptis Magna, the distance between

them being 190 miles. They are composed of the three islands Malta, Gozo, and Comino, of which the first is by far the largest: their superficial extent is about 120 miles, and their estimated population about 100,000 souls, of whom nearly 80,000 are in Malta alone, which is thus one of the most populous spots in the globe. Malta was formerly possessed by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. This order, founded about the end of the eleventh century, was originally a charitable institution, but it's members, called Hospitalers, became military, and took the title of Knights shortly afterwards. On the final loss of Jerusalem by the Christians, they retired to Acre, which they defended valiantly against the Turks. They subsequently followed the king of Cyprus, and in 1310 took Rhodes, but 200 years afterwards, this latter island having fallen into the hands of the Turks, the knights retired into Candia, and thence into Sicily. In the year 1530, the emperor Charles 5th, gave them the island of Malta, that they might defend his valuable possession, Sicily, against the Turks. Malta was then a barren rock, producing little else than fruit and seeds; it was likewise without any means of defence, and the knights therefore fortified it with much labour and address. Having greatly distinguished themselves by their enterprise and valour, Solyman, at that time Sultan, determined in 1564 to extirpate them. His first attempt on the island having failed, he afterwards sent an army of 30,000 men against it, provided with artillery and all the requisites for a grand attack. The siege that ensued has been the object of the most animated descriptions, and was certainly one of the most obstinate on record; but the Turks, after losing four months in reiterated attacks, and sacrificing a great part of their army, were obliged to re-embark, and from that time forebore from all farther attempts upon Malta. The Knights continued long afterwards to bear a part in the hostilities of the various Mediterranean powers against the Turks, but nothing of importance occurred in their history till 1798. In that year, the French expedition to Egypt, under the command of Buonaparte, suddenly appeared before Malta, and summoned it to surrender: after a short delay, the knights submitted without resistance, and Malta received a French garrison. The naval superiority of the British soon enabled them to blockade the island; but the works being too strong for attack, it remained in the hands of the French till the year 1800, when being pressed by famine, it surrendered. Since this period it has continued in our possession, having being confirmed to us by the treaty of Paris in 1814. The Maltese, however, have been allowed to retain the greater part of their ancient rights and usages, amongst others, that of electing their own magistrates: the civil and military governors are both British. In no fortress in Europe are the defences more imposing: admiration is excited in Gibraltar by the work of nature, in Malta, by the labours of art. The coast of Malta is in general steep and rugged, the only good harbours being those of Marta and Marza Murzet: these are separated by a peninsula on which stands Valetta, the chief town, built in 1566 by the knights of St. John, and called after a celebrated grand master of the order; it's present population is estimated at 36,000 souls.

CHAPTER XV.

DACIA, MESIA, THRACIA, AND MACEDONIA.

DACIA.

1. Dacia was bounded on the S. by the R. Danube, on the E. by the Euxine Sea, on the N. by the R. Danaster Dniestr, and on the W. by an imaginary line, commencing near the source of this river, and terminating on the Danube, a few miles to the East of Belgrade. To the S. it bordered on Mosia, to the N. on Sarmatia Europæa, and to the E. on the territory of the Jazyges Metanasta, who separated it from Pannonia and Germany. It included the Eastern part of the Banat, the whole of Walachia and Transylvania, Moldavia, Bessarabia, and the Southern part of Galicia; in all, 87.000 square miles. The inhabitants were called Daci1, or Getæ, the former name being more familiar to the Romans, and the latter to the Greeks; the Geta were, however, considered by some as dwelling in the Eastern part of the province, and the Daci as cantoned to the West of them, about the upper course of the Danube. This province must not be confounded with the Dacia of Aurelian, who, finding it difficult to maintain his possessions on the Northern side of the Danube, withdrew the Roman colonists into Moesia, where he established a new province, under the name of Dacia Aureliani.

2. The Daci, who were Thracians, dwelled originally between M'. Hæmus and the Danube; but they were driven beyond the river, by the victories of Philip, and his son Alexander the Great. The new territory, which they acquired here from the Scythians, either by conquest or treaty, increased rapidly, till it extended at length from the R. Danaster to Pannonia; and to such an extent had their power at one time risen, that they were encouraged, with the assistance of the Scordisci, to attack the Taurisci and Boii, whom they subdued, reducing the territory of the latter to a mere desert. A short time previous to this, they had lost a part of their own pos

1 Aut conjurato descendens Dacus ab Istro :-Virg. Georg. II. 497.

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Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ, - Hor. Carm. I. xxxv. 9.

Pæne occupatam seditionibus

Delevit urbem Dacus et Æthiops;
Hic classe formidatus, ille

Missilibus melior sagittis.

Non qui profundum Danubium bibunt,
Edicta rumpent Julia; non Getæ, &c.

ld. III. vi. 14.

Id. IV. xv. 22.

4

sessions by the incursions of their neighbours the Bastarnæ3: this tract of country, situated between the Dniestr and Pruth, obtained, from it's being uninhabited, the name Getarum Solitudo. At a subsequent period, they were also driven from the neighbourhood of Pannonia and the R. Tibiscus, by the Jazyges Metanastæ, and their territory was then included in the limits assigned to it above. The growing power of the Daci, and their incessant attacks upon the forts, with which Augustus had lined the shores of the Danube", drew upon them the jealousy and vengeance of the Romans; they were, at length, attacked and conquered by the emperor Trajan, who, in order to secure his new province, sent colonies into it from all parts of the Roman world, constructed roads in it, and fortified it's Western frontier. The Daci were actual or nominal subjects of Rome till the time of Aurelian, who felt himself unable to defend this extended frontier, and accordingly contracted his empire within narrower limits. They were divided into several tribes in the Northern part of the province were the Anarti, Predavensii, Biephi, Teurisci, Rhatacensii, Burridensii, Cistoboci, Caucoensii, and Cotensii; in the Southern part were the Albocensii, Saldensii, Potulatensii, Ciagisi, Sensii, and Piephigi. The Peuciai, a branch of the Bastarnæ, dwelled about the mouths of the Danube, and received their name from the island Peuce Pitzina, formed by two arms of that river, and so called from the number of pine-trees which grew there.

3. Carpates M. Carpathian M. is the continuation of Asciburgius M., already mentioned in the description of Germany, and enters Dacia near the sources of the Danaster and Tibiscus; from it all the rivers, which water the province and flow into the Danube, take their rise: it's Southern part was called Alpes Bastarnicæ. Cogæonus M., reckoned sacred by the Geta, and giving rise to a cognominal river, was probably the Southern extremity of the Bastarnic Alps, now called Kaszom; the Serrorum Montes, separating the modern provinces of Transylvania and Walachia, were a continuation of them to the Westward, crossing the Danube near Orsova, and forming The Cataract (The Narrows) in that river, where it's name, Danubius, is said to have been lost in that of Ister".

4. The Tibiscus, or Pathissus, Theiss, is the longest tributary of the Danube; it rises in the Bastarnic Alps, and flows with a Westerly, and afterwards Southerly course, through the country of the Jazyges Metanasta, into the great river near Belgrade; it's length is 570 miles: before it's

3 Hactenus Euxini pars est Romana sinistri;

Proxima Bastarnæ Sauromatæque tenent. Ovid. Trist. II. 198.

Jazyges, et Colchi, Metereaque turba, Getæque,
Danubii mediis vix prohibentur aquis.

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Id. II. 191.

Hor. Sat. II. vi. 53.

Sarmaticas ubi perdit aquas, sparsamque profundo
Multifidi Peucen unum caput adluit Istri.

7 Stat vetus urbs, ripa vicina binominis Istri,

Lucan. III. 202.

Ovid. ex Pont. I. viii. 11.

confluence with the Danube, it receives the Marisus, or Marisia, Maros, a considerable river, which rises not far from it in the Bastarnic Alps; the Grissia, or Gerasus, Feher Koros, is likewise one of it's tributaries. The Aluta, or Tiarantus, Alt, rises in the Bastarnic Alps, and enters the Danube opposite Nikopol. The Porata Pruth, called by the Greeks Pyrethus and Hierasus, rises on the Eastern side of the Bastarnic Alps, and flows with a Southerly course into the Danube, near Galatz; it is 430 miles long. The Tyras, called in a later age Danaster Dniestr, rises in the Carpathian Mountains, and after a S. E. course of 715 miles, enters the Black Sea near Odessa: upon it's banks dwelled the Tyritæ or Tyragitæ, who are thought to have derived their name from Tiraz, a son of Japhet, and to have been distinguished by the latter appellation, after having entered into relationship with the Getæ.

5. Besides these, the Danube receives the Ararus Sereth, near Galats; the Naparus Jalomnitza, opposite Hirsova; the Ardeiscus, or Ordessus, Argis, to the E. of Rustchuk; the Rhabon Schyl, opposite Rahova, and the Apo Nera, at the Western extremity of the province.-The famous bridge of Trajan, which he built over the Danube for completing his conquest of the Daci, is now in ruins near Severin, at the Western extremity of Walachia; it was raised on twenty piers of hewn stone, one hundred and fifty feet from the foundation, sixty feet broad, and one hundred and seventy feet distant from each other. It was about 3,400 English feet long, and was defended on each side by a fortress; that on the East being called Pontes Severin, and that on the West Theodora Gladova. It was destroyed by his successor Hadrian, out of envy, under the pretext that it favoured the irruptions of the barbarians".

6. Zernes Tchernetz, a Roman colony, and a place of considerable strength, was not far from the Pons Trajani. To the N. of it were Tibiscus Cavaran, and Sarmizegethusa Varhely: the latter city was situated near Sargetia fl. Strehl, a tributary of the Marisus, and was the old capital of the province; a dignity which it maintained after it's subjection by Trajan, who made it a Roman colony, with the epithet Ulpia Trajana. Beyond these, to the Northward, were Cedonia Hermanstadt; the colonies Apulum Carlsburg, and Patavissa Toris, both on the river Marisus; Salina Thorda, one of the most productive salt-mines in Transylvania; Napoca Valaszut, and Porolissus Bistritz: the two last were Roman colonies.

7. Besides these, we meet with Dierna Alt Orsova, near Trajan's Bridge; Berso via, on Berzava R.; Singidava Deva; Utidava Udvarhaly; Marcodava Meros

6 Partheniusque rapax, et volvens saxa Cynapes

Labitur; et nullo tardior amne Tyras. Ovid. ex Pont. IV. x. 50. The longest bridge now existing in Europe is said to be the Pont de Saint Esprit, built in the 12th century across the Rhone, between Montelimart and Orange; it's length is 3,197 feet: that of Waterloo bridge, over the Thames, is 2,890 feet.

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