Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/45

 GEOGRAPHY.] SICILY 29 The wars of the French Revolution again parted the Two Sicilies. In 1798 Ferdinand the Fourth (1759-1825) withdrew to the island before the French armies. In 1805 he withdrew again, while Joseph Buonaparte and Joachim Murat reigned on the mainland as kings of Naples. Under the Bourbon rule, besides the common grievances of both kingdoms, Sicily had specially to complain of being treated as subordinate to Naples. But from 1806 to 1815 Sicily, practically a separate kingdom under British pro- tection, enjoyed a measure of wellbeing such as it had not had for some ages, and in 1812 a constitution was estab- lished. The European settlement of 1815 brought back the Bourbon to his continental kingdom. Ferdinand the First became a constitutional king over the United King- dom of the Two Sicilies. This was equivalent to the suppression of the separate constitution of the island, and before long all constitutional order was trodden under foot. In 1820, and also in 1836 under Francis the First, Sicily rose for freedom and separation. This last time the island was bound yet more firmly to continental rule. In the general stir of 1848 Sicily again proclaimed her independence, and sought for herself a king in the house of Savoy. Again were the liberties of Sicily trodden under foot ; and, in the last change of all, the deliverance wrought by Garibaldi in 1860, if not her liberties, her ancient memories were forgotten. Sicily became part of a free kingdom ; but her king does not bear her style, and he has not taken the crown of Roger. The very name of Sicily has been wiped out ; and the great island now counts only as seven provinces of an Italian kingdom. The literature bearing on Sicily, old anil new, is endless. It is something for a land to have had part of its story told by Thucy- dides and another by Hugo Falcandus. Of modern books Holm's Geschichte Siciliens im Alterthum (down to the accession of the second Hieron) is of great value. So are the works of Michele Amari for the Moslem occupation and the "War of the Vespers. The old local historian Fazzello must not be passed by, nor the collections of Carusio, Pirro, and Giovanni. But a history of Sicily and the cycles of its history from the beginning is still lacking. The writers on particular branches of the subject are infinite. Gaily Knight's Normans in Sicily has probably led many to their first thoughts on the subject ; and, as a guide for the traveller, that of Gsel-fels can hardly be outdone. (E. A. F. ) PART II. GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. The island of Sicily (Ital. Sicilia) belongs to the kingdom of Italy, being separated from the mainland only by the narrow (about 2 miles wide) but deep Straits of Messina. It is nearly bisected by the meridian of 14 E., and by far the greater part lies to the south of 38 N. Its southernmost point, however, in 36 40' N. is 40' to the north of Point Tarifa, the southernmost point of Spain and of the continent of Europe. In shape it is triangular, whence the ancient poetical name of Trinacria, referring to its three promontories of Pelorum (now Faro) in the north-east, Pachynum (now Passaro) in the south-east, and Lilybaeum (now Boeo) in the west. Its area, exclusive of the adjacent small islands belonging to the compartimento, is, according to the recent planhnetrical calculation of the Military Geographical Institute of Italy, 9860 square miles, considerably less than one-third of that of Ireland ; that of the whole compartimento is 9935 square miles. The island occupies that part of the Mediterranean in iphical wn i c h the shallowing of the waters divides that sea into two basins, and in which there are numerous indications of frequent changes in a recent geological period. The channel between Cape Bon in Tunis and the south-west of Sicily (a distance of 80 miles) is, on the whole, shallower than the Straits of Messina, being for the most part under 100 fathoms in depth, and exceeding 200 fathoms only for a very short interval, while the Straits of Messina, which are at their narrowest part less than 2 miles in width, have almost everywhere a depth exceeding 150 fathoms. The geological structure in the neighbourhood of this strait shows that the island must originally have been formed by a rupture between it and the mainland, but that this rupture must have taken place at a period long antecedent to the advent of man, so that the name Rhegium cannot be based even on the tradition of any such catastrophe. The mountain range that runs out towards the north-east of Sicily is composed of crystalline rocks precisely similar to those forming the parallel range of Asprornonte in Calabria, but both of these are girt about by sedimentary strata belonging in part to an early Tertiary epoch. That a subsequent land connexion took place, however, by the elevation of the sea-bed there is abundant evidence to show ; and the occurrence of the remains of African Quaternary mammals, such as Ulejrfias meridionalis, E. antiquus, Hippopotamus pentlandi, as well as of those of still living African forms, such as Eleplias africanus and Hysena crocuta, makes it probable that there was a direct post-Tertiary connexion also with the African continent. The north coast is generally steep and cliffy and abun- Coasts, dantly provided with good harbours, of which that of Palermo is the finest. In the west and south the coast is for the most part flat, more regular in outline, and less favourable to shipping, while in the east, where the sea- bottom sinks rapidly down towards the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, steep rocky coasts prevail except op- posite the plain of Catania. In the northern half of this coast the lava streams of Mount Etna stand out for a distance of about 20 miles in a line of bold cliffs and promontories. At various points on the east, north, and west coasts there are evidences of a rise of the land having taken place within historical times, at Trapani on the west coast even within the 19th century. As in the rest of the Mediterranean, tides are scarcely observable ; but at several points on the west and south coasts a curious oscillation in the level of the w r aters, known to the natives as the marrolbio (or inarobia), is sometimes noticed, and is said to be always preceded by certain atmospheric signs. This consists in a sudden rise of the sea-level, occasionally to the height of 3 feet, sometimes occurring only once, some- times repeated at intervals of a minute for two hours, or even, at Mazzara, where it is most frequently observed, for twenty-four hours together. The surface of Sicily lies for the most part more than Surface. 500 feet above the level of the sea. Caltanissetta, which occupies the middle point in elevation as well as in respect of geographical situation, stands 1 900 feet above sea-level. Considerable mountains occur only in the north, where the lower slopes of all the heights form one continuous series of olive-yards and orangeries. Of the rest of the island the greater part forms a plateau varying in eleva- tion and mostly covered with wheat-fields. The only plain of any great extent is that of Catania, watered by the Simeto, in the east ; to the north of this plain the active volcano of ETNA (q.v.) rises with an exceedingly gentle slope to the height of 10,868 feet from a base 400 square miles in extent. This is the highest elevation of the island. The steep and narrow crystalline ridge which trends north-eastwards, and is known to geographers by the name of the Peloritan Mountains, does not reaeh 4000 feet. The Nebrodian Mountains, a limestone range con- nected with the Peloritan range and having an east and west trend, rise to a somewhat greater height, and farther west, about the middle of the north coast, the Madonie (the only one of the groups mentioned which has a native name) culminate at the height of nearly 6500 feet. From the western end of the Nebrodian Mountains a lower range