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296 enterprise of some Scotch merchants. Left to themselves the Sicilians would do little. "Our people are not like yours," said a Sicilian to me, "they have no courage." He meant business enterprise. Sicily has come through many changes and suffered from the domination of many masters. In Roman days it was the granary of Italy. If it could be handed over to the management of a few British business men, with capital, it would soon become the richest spot in the Mediterranean.

Palermo with its ample harbour lies in such a lovely neighbourhood, encircled by hills, that it has got the name of the "Conca d'Oro," the Shell of Gold. Its history dates from the time when it was a Phœnician settlement, then Carthagenian, then Roman, Saracenic, and Norman. The Norman sea-kings were great builders; William the Good resolved to build a Cathedral of surpassing beauty and, led by a dream, chose a site five miles from Palermo, which he named Monreale, the Royal Mount. A lofty ridge, falling abruptly into deep valleys full of vegetation, affords room for church, monastery, cloisters, and a small village. The view from the ramparts is one of the finest in Sicily but nothing compared to the beauty of the interior of the cathedral. The spacious nave, paved with coloured marbles, separated from its aisles by columns of oriental granite, taken from old pagan buildings, has a richly carved and decorated roof; the walls everywhere are encrusted with Byzantine mosaic in coloured glass and stone, on a golden ground,—the mosaic consists of a series of scenes from the Old and New Testaments, with figures of Saints and Kings. The glorious colour of the mosaic is as fresh as when first executed. Over the high altar in the