Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/47

 S I C S I C 31 due to the extraction of sulphur from iron pyrites obtained elsewhere. Before 1860 the annual production did not exceed 150,000 tons, while in 1880 it exceeded 300,000 tons, and in 1SS4 almost reached 400,000 tons. It is estimated that at least 50,000,000 tons are still available in the island. Besides sulphur, rock salt, the annual production of which is about 3000 tons, is the only important mineral product of the island ; but not less than 170,000 tons of bay salt are made in the salt-pans of Trapani and other parts of the west coast. The rock salt is principally excavated near Racal- muto, Casteltermini, and Traboua. Admini- The compart imcnto of Sicily is divided into seven provinces, the strative area and population of which are given in the following table : divisions. Provinces. Area in sq. miles. Xo. of Com- munes. Pop. 1881. Pop. per sq. mile. 1270 28 266,379 210 1924 63 563,457 292 1105 41 312,487 268 1246 97 460,924 370 1985 76 699,151 352 1439 32 841,526 237 Trapani 929 20 283,977 305 9958 357 2,927,901 294 The areas here given are those of Strelbitsky for 1881, these giving a total which agrees better than the old official figures with the total calculated by the Military Geographical Institute, which has not yet made any calculations for the individual provinces. The volcanic Lipari or jEolian Islands to the north of Sicily are included in the province of Messina ; the island of Ustica to the north-west in that of Palermo ; the jEgadic group (Lat. Iiisulas sEyatcs), con- sisting of a number of limestone islands in the west, in that of Trapani, from which the nearest is separated by a channel not more than nine fathoms in depth ; and to the same province belongs also Pantelleria, midway between Sicily and Africa. The prosperity of the island, due chiefly to the stimulation of the cultivation of southern fruits by the extension of commerce in recent years, is shown by the fact that since 1861 the population has increased more rapidly than that of any other part of the king- dom. In 1861 the total population was 2,392,414, and in 1871 2,584,099. Thus the annual rate of increase was 7'74 per thousand as against 6'91 for the whole kingdom ; while between 1871 and 1881 the annual increase was at the rate of 12'62 per thousand for Sicily as against 6 '02 for the whole kingdom. The number of emigrants is small. In 1882 the number of emigrants proper (those who declared their intention of remaining out of the country for more than one year) was 2261 out of 65,748 for the whole king- dom, that of the temporary emigrants 954 as compared with 95,814. The population, which in consequence of the chequered history of the island is necessarily a very mixed one, is said to be oil the whole well disposed and industrious. The lawlessness indicated by the continued existence of the secret society called the Mafia, which, like the Camorra of the Neapolitan provinces of the main- land, overrides the law in taking vengeance on those who have rendered themselves obnoxious to it, is a relic of former misrule, and is diminishing under the present Government. The condition of the peasantry still shows some of the injurious results of Spanish rule, under which the feudal system was introduced in its worst form. The nobles, who then acquired large landed properties, col- lected their serfs or retainers round their own castles, so that a number of considerable towns grew up, and the country districts were to a large extent deserted. The cultivators of the soil had often to walk 10 or 12 miles from their homes to their fields. It is chiefly from this cause that even at the present day the people of the island are mainly congregated in towns containing not less than 5000 inhabitants each. The three principal towns of Sicily and the chief seats of its foreign commerce are Palermo (population, with suburbs, 244,991 in 1881), Catania (100,417), and Messina (81,049), and the next in size are Marsala (40,251), Acireale (38,547), Trapani (38,231 ; the headquarters of the coral-fishers of Italy), Caltanissetta (25,027), Syracuse (23,507), Sciacca (22,195), Girgenti - (20,008 ; the centre of the trade in sulpluir), Castrogiovauni (18,981 ), Licata (17,565), Terranova (17,173). The backward state of education is another consequence of former Educa- misrule. In 1881 6T59 per cent of the inhabitants above twelve tioii. years of age were still unable to read and write (analfabcti), and in 1880-81 the number of pupils in the elementary public schools was only 101,724, or nearly 1 in 29 of the whole population, as against about 1 in 15 for the whole kingdom. Here, however, as in other parts of Italy, improvement is going on in this respect, for the percentage of the people of Sicily above twelve years old unable to read and write was 67'59 in 1871 and 73'12 in 1861. The system of roads and railways is still defective. One line of Corn- railway proceeds along the east coast from Messina to Syracuse, munica- and a branch ascends from it to join one of the lines which cross tion. the middle of the island from north to south. Of these there are two, one from Licata and one from Porto Empedocle, both on the south coast ; these lines meet before touching the north coast a little to the east of Termini ; thence the railway proceeds along the north coast to Palermo and Castellamare, whence it recrosses the island again to Mazzara, and afterwards follows the west coast northwards to Trapani. A project is now (1886) entertained for the connexion of the railways of Sicily with those of the mainland by a tunnel under the Straits of Messina. See W. H. Smyth, Sicily and its Islands, London, 1824; Theo. Fischer, Beitr. z. phys. Geogr. d. Mittelmeerlander, liesonders Siciliens, Leipsic, 1877 ; Id., "Das Klima der Mittelmeerlander," in Erganzungsband xiii. of Petei-mann'* Mittheilunyen, Gptha, 1879. A complete account of Etna is given in Arnold von Lasaulx's edition of Der Aetna, by W. Sartorius von Waltershausen, Leipsic, 2 vols., 1880. The best topographical map of Sicily is that based on Govern- ment surveys on the scale of 1 : 50,000 ; and on a small scale (1 : 800,000) that in Baedeker's Italy is of peculiar excellence. The geology of the island is shown in a single sheet in the Carta Geologica delta Sicilia nella Scala di 1 : 500,000, and in more detail on the scale of 1 : 100,000 in twenty -seven sheets (not yet completed). See also for the geology and currents of the Straits of Messina the "Schizzo Geologico dello Stretto di Messina colla Indicazione delle Correnti Marine," in the Bolletino dtl R. Comitato Geologico d' Italia, 13th year, Rome, 1882. Regarding the minerals, see the third vol. of / Tesori sotterranei dell' Italia by W. Jervis, Turin, 1SS1. (G. G. C.) SICKINGEN, FRANZ VON (1481-1523), a powerful Ger- man baron, was born at Sickingen, Baden, the castle of his family, on 1st March 1481. He was the greatest of those Rhenish knights who held their lands immediately of the emperor, and was much esteemed by Maximilian I. and by Charles V., to both of whom he rendered good service in war. He held the position of imperial councillor and chamberlain, and won great fame as a protector of the poor and the oppressed. In 1517 he was put under the ban of the empire in consequence of a war with the imperial city of Worms. Afterwards he carried on wars with the duke of Lorraine, the imperial city of Metz, the landgrave Philip of Hesse, and Duke Ulrich of Wiirtemberg. For a short time he was disposed to serve Francis I. of France, from whom he received a pension ; but in the imperial election of 1519 Sickingen exercised his influence on behalf of Charles V., and in 1521 he took a prominent part, with the count of Nassau, in the war with France. In 1522 an assembly at Landau elected him head of the confederation of Rhenish and Swabian barons. He was an enthusiastic adherent of the Humanists and Reformers, and when Luther seemed to be in danger offered to pro- vide for him a place of safety. Through the influence of Ulrich von Hutten, Sickingen formed a vast scheme for the overthrow of the spiritual and temporal princes, his intention being that all Germany should be brought into immediate subjection to the emperor. He was so popular among the landsknechte or mercenary foot soldiers of the time that he had no difficulty in bringing together a powerful army ; and in September 1522 he began the war by attacking the archbishop of Treves. Much alarm was excited by this sudden movement, and the landgrave Philip and the palsgrave Louis hastened to the aid of the besieged prelate, and compelled Sickingen to withdraw from Treves. He had hoped that the barons, the peasantry, and the cities would rise in support of his designs, but in this expectation he was disappointed. Fortress after for- tress was taken from him, and at last, in April 1523, he was besieged in the tower of Landstuhl near Kaiserslautern. During the bombardment he was mortally wounded, and on 7th May 1523 he died, having capitulated almost im- mediately before. With his defeat and death the Barons' War came to an end. His son was made a count of the empire (Reichsfreiherr) by Maximilian II., and a descend- ant was raised in 1773 by Joseph II. to the rank of Reichsyraf. One line of the family continued to possess immediate estates in the lordship of Landstuhl down to 1803. SICKLE. See SCYTHE. SICYON was a city in the east of Achaia, Greece, about 2 miles inland from the Corinthian Gulf, situated on and below a hill in the angle formed by the confluence