of intersection forms an open space, called, from its shape, the Ottangolo. Each of the eight sides is formed by a beautiful building, three stories high, composed of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders; and each has in its front an elegant fountain. From this spot is enjoyed a beautiful perspective view of the best part of the town, terminated by four gates. Of the other streets few are deserving attention. In several parts of the town they are almost covered with booths, or rather workshops and tables, where tradesmen of all descriptions carry on their work as in Naples in the open air. The ground floor of the palaces, as they are termed, of the nobility, is frequently occupied by shops. In almost every house in the town there is a common staircase; and each stage of apartments forms the separate residence of a family. Balconies with iron railings also abound here. In winter the streets are wretchedly lighted by a few solitary lamps, scattered over different parts of the town. The Marina is a raised platform or terrace, extending above a mile along the bay, and eighty paces in bread th. At the eastern extremity is a public garden, called the Flora, laid out in walks, interspersed with statues, fountains, and summer houses; and here people of all ranks are admitted. Adjoining is the botanical garden, the entrance of which is through an imitation of an ancient temple. The garden contains a collection of valuable plants. The royal palace is situated at the top of the Via Cassaro, and commands a beautiful view of the town. The adjoining gardens are delightful. Its exterior wants symmetry, but its apartments are spacious and finely ornamented. The square in front contains a statue of Philip IV. of Sicily. Many of the mansions of the nobility have marble columns, either in front or in the large court which they generally enclose; but the effect of these is frequently destroyed by the meanness of the buildings adjoining. There are in this city three theatres; but in none is there any display of architectural or scenic taste. On the other hand, in the magnificence of its churches, Palermo is second only to Rome, and there are above forty monasteries, and fifty convents. The cathedral called the Madre Chiesa, and situated in the Via Cassaro, was erected in the twelfth century, and is a mixture of Grecian and Gothic styles of architecture. A considerable part of it has been lately restored in a more modern style. Its interior is supported by granite pillars. The church of St. Giuseppe is also profusely ornamented, and contains some fine columns of gray Sicilian marble, nearly sixty feet high. Of the other churches, the appearance is generally fine, but devoid of taste. Most of the convents have elegant chapels attached to them, and good collections of paintings. The great hospital of Palermo stands near the royal palace; that of St. Bartholomew close to the Marina. The poor-house, or Albergo de Poveri, is also an extensive edifice; and there are several pawnbanks (Monti di Pieta) for the poor. Here are also three public libraries, but the books are chiefly old and theological. The university, an extensive pile of building, has an observatory, and several cabinets of medals and curiosities: the number of pupils is not above a few hun

dreds. There is, besides, a separate institution for boys of rank, and the charity school of St. Roch for orphans. The females are for the most part educated in the convents.

The trade here is not extensive, the exports of Palermo being confined to a few articles in silk and satin, with some manufactures for the supply of Malta; the wine, oil, and other surplus produce of the surrounding country, fish, particularly tunnies. The importations are more various, comprising almost every article, either of luxury or convenience. In the middle of the eleventh century silk manufactures were first established by government. They are still kept up, and the silk thread obtained from the fish called the Pinna Marina, and manufactured here, is of exquisite fineness.

The population amounts, according to the most accurate estimate, to about 130,000. It has been sometimes erroneously taken much higher. Poverty seems the common lot of the frequenters of its crowded streets; and there exists a serious obstacle to the improvement of their circumstances, in the number of persons dignified with titles, without the means of supporting their rank. Beggars of the most wretched appearance swarm every where, but in reality are not so miserable as they look, regular distributions of food being made at the different charitable and morastic institutions. The temperature in winter seldom falls below 50° of Fahrenheit: in summer it keeps for some months between 80° and 90°. In that season the inhabitants generally shut up their houses and shops a little before noon, and keep them shut for three or four hours. The Sirocco is at this season very oppressive, but not of frequent occurrence. Palermo is supplied with water, conveyed in pipes to the tops of the highest houses.

It is an opinion entertained by some of our countrymen who have been in Sicily, says a friend, that the people of Falermo and of the western shores of the Val di Mazzara, are not in general so attached to the English as in the other parts of the island: we know not the origin of this opinion. As to Palermo, perhaps it may have arisen from the dislike which the court and Neapolitans profess for the English. But we have never observed the least partiality entertained by the people for the French in any one corner of the whole island, and we have made the entire circuit of it, and crossed the interior in two different lines. We witnessed a fray at Palermo, the description of which may give our readers some idea of the materials from which we have deduced our opinions; it occurred in the summer of 1810. Several Neapolitan dragoons insisted on taking some cheese from a shop at a price considerably below that at which it was retailed;-an altercation ensued, which became rather violent, and one of the dragoons drew his sabre, and striking at the shopkeeper (a practice these fellows have) wounded him slightÎy. The latter instantly called to his men and to his neighbours, with the masonic epithet ‘picciotti;' let us, my lads,' exclaimed he, 'serve these Neapolitans as they suspect we intend to do, and as they know they merit; let us do away with them.' In a very few seconds seven

or eight of the dragoons measured their length on the ground; the rest escaped; and, a great concourse of people being assembled by this time, the wounded shopkeeper began to harangue them; he was joined by the greater part of the mob in venting every imprecation against the Neapolitani-calling them Jacobini. Several times was it exclaimed, 'had it not been for the English long since you would have betrayed us to the French, who are now at this very moment solely kept out of the island by the English, without the least exertion on your part.' They called the soldiers cowards, and spoke of them with the greatest contempt-saying they were only capable of practising extortion upon quiet shopkeepers. Such was the language of a mob which might have proceeded to greater lengths, had not the captain of the city, prince Carini, a nobleman at that time rather a favorite of the people, come up, and by his exertions and persuasions dispersed the crowd and restored tranquillity. As the weapons these picciotti made use of were rather Herculean, being sticks of the ash tree from which they make the manna in Sicily, three or four of the dragoons died, and the rest were much injured.'

Palermo, soon after the beginning of the first Punic war, passed into the hands of the Romans, who conferred on it various privileges. In a subsequent age the Saracens made it the capital of their Sicilian territories; and since their time, with the exception of very short intervals, it has been considered the capital of the island. But it has hardly any remains of antiquity, owing, in some measure, to the depth of soil and frequency of inundations here. It was the residence of the court of Naples from 1806 to 1815: at present it is the seat of a viceroy and of the chief boards of the island administration. It is likewise the see of an archbishop, who has the title of primate of Sicily. This city has suffered greatly by earthquakes, particularly in 1693; and it was greatly damaged by a fire in 1730, when a magazine of powder was blown up, containing 400 tons. It is 130 miles west of Messina, and 200 south by west of Naples. Long. of the observatory 13° 20′ 0′′ E., lat. 38° 6' 44" N.

PALÉS, in Pagan worship, the goddess of the shepherds; to whom they offered milk and honey, in order that she might deliver them and their flocks from wild beasts and infectious diseases. This goddess is represented as an old woman. She was worshipped with great solemnity at Rome; and her festivals, called palilia, were celebrated on the 21st of April, the day that Romulus began to lay the foundation of the city of Rome. The ceremony consisted in burning heaps of straw, and in leaping over them. No sacrifices were offered, but purifications were made with the smoke of horses' blood, and with the ashes of a calf that had been taken from the belly of its mother, after she had been sacrificed, and with the ashes of beans. The purification of the flocks was also made with the smoke of sulphur, of the olive, the pine, the laurel, and the rosemary. Offerings of mild cheese, boiled wine, and cakes of millet, were afterwards made to the goddess. Some call this festival parilia, from pariendo, bringing forth,

because the sacrifices were offered to the divinity for the fecundity of the flocks.

PALESTINE, a country highly celebrated in antiquity, now a part of Asiatic Turkey, is bounded by Mount Libanus, which divides it from Syria, on the north; by Mount Hermon, which separates it from Arabia Deserta, on the east; by the mountains of Seir and the deserts of Arabia Petræa on the south; and by the Mediterranean Sea on the west.

This once fertile and happy spot was first called the land of Canaan, or Chanaan, from Noah's grandson. In Scripture, however, it is frequently distinguished by other names; such as the Land of Promise, the Land of God, the Land of Israel, &c. It received the name of Palestine from the Palestines or Philistines, who possessed a great part of it; and it had the name of Judæa, or Judæa Palestina, from Judah, the most considerable of the twelve sons of Jacob, or rather from the tribe, his descendants. Christian writers have denominated it the Holy Land; partly on account of the many singular blessings it received from the Divine Providence, and partly on account of its metropolis being made the centre of God's worship and his peculiar habitation; but much more for its being the place of our Saviour's birth, the scene of his preaching and manifold miracles; and especially the place in which he accomplished the great work of our redemption. As to the name of Judæa, it did not begin to receive that till after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, though it had been styled long before the kingdom of Judah, in opposition to that of Israel, which revolted from it under Jeroboam, in the reign of Rehoboam. By profane authors it was called by many different names; such as Syria, Palestina Syria, Colosyria, Iduma, Idumæa, and Phonicia or Phoenice; many of them given in contempt of the Jewish nation, whom they looked upon as unworthy of any other name than what distinguished the most obscure parts of the neighbouring provinces. That part of the country which was properly called the Land of Promise was enclosed on the west by the Mediterranean; east by the lake Asphaltites, the Jordan, the sea of Tiberias or Galilee, and the Samachonite lake; north by the mountains of Libanus, or rather Antilibanus, or the province of Phoenicia; and on the south by that of Edom or Idumæa, from which it was parted by another ridge of high mountains. The boundaries of the other part, which belonged to the two tribes and a half beyond the Jordan, are not so easily defined, nor those of the conquests made by the more prosperous kings of the Jews. All that can be said with any probability is, that the river Arnon was the first northern boundary on that side.

Judea in its largest sense was divided into maritime and inland, as well as into mountainous and champaign; and again subdivided into Judea on this side, and Judea beyond Jordan. But the most considerable division is that which was made among the twelve tribes, by lot, under the Divine superintendance. Of these, two and a half were seated beyond Jordan, and the rest on this side. The next remarkable division was made by king Solomon, who divided his king

near its southern extremity, a mountain of salgem, the continual dissolution of which seems to produce the saltness of this lake. The bitumen so copiously produced is found on its shores, and floating on its surface. Seetzen contradicts the report of no bird being able to fly over its waters, and of there being a peculiar unhealthiness in the air around this sea.

The ancient Samaria is now chiefly comprised in the district of Napolose; and Napolose, the ancient Sichem, is the capital. This district, though mountainous, is well cultivated, and carries on a considerable trade in corn, silk, and olives. The most prominent feature here is Mount Carmel, extending along the Gulf of Acre. During the middle ages this mountain was almost entirely filled with grottoes cut in the rock, the abode of thousands of monks, who took the name of Carmelites. Pococke saw one of these monasteries, in which two or three monks still resided, and a grand excavated saloon forty feet long, twenty wide, and fifteen high, the scene of their general conferences.

North of Samaria, and communicating with Judea by the Jordan, is Galilee, distinguished by its natural beauty and fertility. The plain of Esdraelon, two days' journey in length, and twenty miles in breadth, is described by Dr. Clarke as one vast meadow, covered with the richest pasture. He considers this as the finest part of all Palestine, though when he passed across it was entirely neglected. Above it rises Mount Tabor, in a conical form, with a plane at the top, commanding a most delightful prospect. The lake of Tiberias, or Gennesareth, is surrounded by lofty and picturesque hills, the sides of which were once covered with towns, now almost deserted.

The Jordan, one of the most important natural features of Palestine, with the lake of Tiberias through which it passes, and that of Asphaltites which it forms by its discharge, divides it completely into two portions. The region beyond this river, though less noticed in history, include many tracks once fertile and flourishing, which had escaped the notice of modern geography, till they were recently explored by Seetzen and Burckhardt. Here are the Hauran and Dschaulan, consisting of a vast plain, not watered by any great river; yet the inhabitants contrive, by collecting the torrents and rain water into ponds, to obtain a sufficient supply for the purposes of agriculture. The rocks are entirely composed of basalt; and the villages, being built on their sides of this material, present a gloomy appearance. The district of El Botthin, the ancient Batanæa, is distinguished by thousands of caverns into which the rocks have been hollowed out. There are still a number of large caves, which receive whole families, with their cattle. Here, and in the Roman district of Decapolis, are found remains of splendid cities. Those of Dscherrash, the ancient Gerasa, are compared by Seetzen to Balbec and Palmyra. They include several palaces, two superb amphitheatres, and three temples; 200 Corinthian pillars of white marble, still supporting their entablatures, and a much greater number overthrown. The ruins of Ammon, the ancient Philadelphia, one of the VOL. XVI.

principal cities of Decapolis, are also splendid. To the south, upon the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, is found the district of Karak, bleak, barren, and mountainous; the ruins of Rabbath Moab, the ancient capital, attest its former importance.

The Turks occupy all the civil and military posts; while the inhabitants of the eastern epire, under the name of Greeks, form a very numerous part of the population. The country districts, however, are filled to a great extent with nomadic Arabs. The dress of this people is very simple; it consists of a blue shirt, descending below the knees, the legs and feet being exposed, or covered with the ancient cothurnus or buskin. A cloak of very coarse and heavy camels' hair cloth, decorated with black and white stripes adorns the back: this is of one square piece, with holes for the arms; and a seam down the back. Upon their heads they wear a turban, or dirty rag, like a coarse handkerchief, bound across the temples, one corner of which generally hangs down; and this, by way of distinction, is generally fringed with strings in knots., The Arab women are not much concealed from view. Their bodies are covered with a long blue shift, but their breasts are exposed; and extend to an extraordinary length. Upon their heads they wear a hood, and a handkerchief bound over it across the temples. Just above the right nostril they place a small button, studded with pearl, a piece of glass, or any other glittering substance. Their faces, hands, and arms, are tattooed, and covered with scars; their eyelashes and eyes being painted, or rather dirtied, with some dingy black or blue powder; their lips are dyed of a deep and dusky blue; their teeth jet black; their nails and fingers bright red; their ears are loaded with ponderous rings. Their usual weapons consist of a lance, a poniard, an iron mace, a battle axe, and sometimes a matchlock gun, and the moveables of a whole family seldom exceed a camel's load. They reside always in tents made of goats' hair on the open plain, or on the mountains; men, women, children, and cattle, all lodging together. In their disposition, though grave and sedate, they are said to be amiable, and most hospitable.

After the conversion of the Roman empire to Christianity, Judea became an object of religious veneration,and the empress Helena repaired hither in pilgrimage, and built various splendid temples. A crowd of pilgrims resorted thither subsequently from every part of the world: the most numerous arriving from the west, over which the church of Rome had fully established its domination. In the commencement, however, of the sixth century, an entire change took place. Judea was among the countries first exposed to the invasion of the fanatical followers of Mahomet, and soon fell under their sway. The caliphs were at first induced to encourage pilgrimage, from the gain which it afforded. But, when the Turks poured in from the north, they no longer observed the same courtesy. They profaned the holy places, and, the intelligence of their outrages being conveyed to Europe, roused the religious spirit of the age into those expeditions called the Crusades. All Europe seemed

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