DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11789#0052
42
PASSAGE TO MESSINA.
would owe still more, did not a " power behind the
throne" frequently interfere to thwart his best en-
deavors. The police of Sicily, as well as of Naples
is extremely strict, especially since the insurrec-
tion of 1848; it is said, however, that this Cerberus
can, without difficulty, be lulled asleep by a sop,
properly administered. Indeed, it is now an es-
tablished usage for travellers who wish their trunks
to pass the custom-house without much " overhaul-
ing," to give the officials a small bribe, just to -keep
them in a good humor.
April 21. In the evening we left Palermo in a
small Sicilian steamer, which landed us in Messina
the following afternoon at about four o'clock. On
our passage we saw Mount Etna, perhaps fifty miles
distant, looking like a huge conical mass of snow,
shining with dazzling whiteness in the morning sun.
As we advanced towards Messina, the prospect was
singular and beautiful in the highest degree. We
saw directly before us, at the distance of fifteen or
twenty miles, the naked, bold, and mountainous
coast of Italy, and above, for a great extent, the Ca-
labrian mountains all white with snow, to which the
hills and valleys of Sicily, covered with the richest
verdure, presented a mild and delightful contrast.
As you approach Messina, the coasts of Italy and
PASSAGE TO MESSINA.
would owe still more, did not a " power behind the
throne" frequently interfere to thwart his best en-
deavors. The police of Sicily, as well as of Naples
is extremely strict, especially since the insurrec-
tion of 1848; it is said, however, that this Cerberus
can, without difficulty, be lulled asleep by a sop,
properly administered. Indeed, it is now an es-
tablished usage for travellers who wish their trunks
to pass the custom-house without much " overhaul-
ing," to give the officials a small bribe, just to -keep
them in a good humor.
April 21. In the evening we left Palermo in a
small Sicilian steamer, which landed us in Messina
the following afternoon at about four o'clock. On
our passage we saw Mount Etna, perhaps fifty miles
distant, looking like a huge conical mass of snow,
shining with dazzling whiteness in the morning sun.
As we advanced towards Messina, the prospect was
singular and beautiful in the highest degree. We
saw directly before us, at the distance of fifteen or
twenty miles, the naked, bold, and mountainous
coast of Italy, and above, for a great extent, the Ca-
labrian mountains all white with snow, to which the
hills and valleys of Sicily, covered with the richest
verdure, presented a mild and delightful contrast.
As you approach Messina, the coasts of Italy and