The Mafiusi of Sicily

So much has been said of brigandage in Sicily, lately, and so much discussion and so many excited debates have taken place in the Italian parliament on account of the new stringent laws, or misure eccezionali, which have just been enacted for its suppression in the island, that I have been induced as a native, and after a long official residence there, to give an idea of the vast secret association of peculiar character called mafia, but erroneously styled brigandage.

There is, properly speaking, no brigandage in Sicily, with the exception of a few small bands of highway robbers. The mafiusi,¹malandrini, or camorristi of Sicily, for they are designated by either of these three appellations, very seldom live together in armed bands; they seldom rob in the highways, and when they do so, they do it by a preconcerted movement. The chiefs, when they have planned to commit a robbery, or to seize a proprietor for ransom, collect a number of men sufficient for the operation in view, and as soon as it is accomplished, they disband and go about their business in the cities or the fields, as if they were the most honest and respectable laborers. Besides, actual robbery is confined to the lowest classes of their association; they thrive mostly by levying black-mail on the wealthy and peaceful part of the population, who from time immemorial have submitted to it, and do so still.

But in return such persons are protected by the mafiusi in their life and property better than they would be by the government itself; when they have paid their quota, which is almost regularly, and one may say equitably, assessed, especially upon the landed proprietors in the interior of the island, the mafiusi feel in honor bound to protect them, and do so; and woe to the outsider who dares to rob or molest them; the mafiusi would consider it as an insult to themselves, and their vendetta would surely fall on any one who dared to pilfer in their province. In the country they resemble in some respects that class of mountaineers called in Scotland pretty-men at the time of Rob Boy McGregor; and the original cause of their existence and power is very much the same, namely, hatred against the Spanish Bourbon government that oppressed Sicily for the last two centuries. In the cities they are more like the English trades unions.

Since the middle of the last century, when Sicily was annexed to Naples, forming the so-called Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in order to give a throne to a branch of the Bourbons of Spain, the island had been governed or misgoverned by viceroys, with the exception of a few years during the French republic and empire. During that short period the court of Naples, driven by Napoleon from the Continent, took refuge in Sicily. England, with an army under Lord Bentinck, and more than all with her formidable navy under Lord Nelson, protected it against France.

There existed at that time a very numerous class of armed retainers or vassals, whom the feudal barons, the clergy, and the proprietors of the soil employed for their protection and the protection of their property. This class of desperate men, or bravoes, so well described by Manzoni in his Promessi Sposi, which had disappeared from Italy with the advance of civilization, remained intact to that day in Sicily. These ruffians protected the castles and estates of their masters, but on condition that the latter would protect them in their turn, whenever public authority was roused against them for misdeeds, abuses of power, or other crimes which they committed each moment, either on their own account, or, as very often was the case, on account of their masters. These availed themselves, for that purpose, of their feudal rights, privileges, and jurisdictions, and the immunities of the churches and convents.

While the King of Naples was residing in Sicily under the protection of England, by the advice, or I may say by the express order, of the English government, he granted a constitution (a copy of the English) and assembled a parliament. One of the first acts of this assembly was the abolition of feudalism.

The feudal lords and clergy, thus dispossessed of their rights of service from their vassals, were obliged to dismiss all their armed retainers. The bravoes, unused to labor, naturally disposed to blood and violence, became robbers almost to a man. The Bourbon government, intent exclusively on the political possession of the island as a stepping-stone to a reinstatement in Naples, and mixed up in all the conspiracies of the so-called “ Holy Alliance ” against France and Napoleon, had neither time, desire, nor money for the suppression of these lawless ruffians. But in order to establish some sort of public security, it had recourse to a very extraordinary expedient; which was to enlist in its service the leaders of those very bravoes, organizing them in armed bands, under the name of compagnie d’armi, and entrusting them with the public security of the interior of the island: the old story of the wolves guarding the lambs !

These companies were charged with the duty of preventing robbery, which they did nominally; but in reality they practiced it themselves in an underhand way. The interior of the island was entirely abandoned to their control. They gradually became very powerful, and added to their strength by admitting all the greatest rogues in the country as affiliates to their companies, with the one condition of avoiding themselves and preventing in others open robbery, but with the right of black-mailing all the proprietors of the soil. These had to submit for fear of the vendetta of the companies-of-arms.

The natural consequence of such a state of things, continuing from the feudal times to our own days, is very obvious. Instead of extirpating robbery and brigandage, it elevated them to the dignity of a state institution. For several generations the Sicilian rural people have acquired a habit of considering it a necessary evil, and have never dreamed of the possibility of getting rid of it. The best they could hope for was to have this black-mailing reduced to moderate proportions; and this they have managed by submitting to it with a good grace, doing favors and making occasional presents to the captains, their men, and their affiliates, employing one or two of these latter at a large salary as the chief guardians of their estates, and above all by keeping an absolutesilence before the authorities, both political and judicial, on all subjects that might be of injury to their oppressors; for in that case the vendetta— and a bloody vendetta—would surely fall on them.

The lower, ignorant classes, in the country and in the cities, became accustomed to consider these affiliates, who took the name of mafiusi, or malandrini, or camorristi, as members and protégés of a powerful and redoubtable association, stronger than the rich, stronger than the government itself. They came to consider it a title of honor to be admitted as a member. Even the peaceful artisans and laborers acquired a sort of respectful admiration for the mafiusi, for in their eyes they represented Sicilian resistance against Bourbon oppression. Even the very words mafiuso, malandrino, lost their original meaning, and instead of appellations of dishonor became terms of praise. To be a mafiuso in its present signification among Sicilians means to be a brave man, a man who fears nobody; and many a good mother speaks of her boy as being a little mafiuso or malandrino, meaning by that a brave, bright boy.

One of the very first acts of Garibaldi, while dictator, was the suppression of the compagnie d’armi, giving thus a death - blow to this degrading official black-mailing or brigandage. The immediate consequence, however, was an increase in the number of the mafiusi, because these captains-of-arms and their men, cast out from the official patronage of the government, naturally returned to their original trade. They joined their old affiliates and protégés, and they were further formidably reinforced by the prisoners let loose all over the island during the revolution; forming thus a vast association, whose ramifications extend to all the lower classes, and even higher up. It has a code called omertà, to which all adhere. The principal laws of this code are that “ a man must seek redress by himself for injuries received.”

“ No man should testify before a judge even if he is the injured party.” In obedience to the rules of this code even the most respectable among the common people would never testify, if by chance he had been spectator of a crime; and not only that, but he would consider it his duty and a worthy action to secrete an assassin from the pursuit of justice; for, according to that code, “it is not justice but the living that must avenge the dead; ” and hence the laws of vendetta.

The mafia of Sicily is a regularly organized association. The members call themselves giovani d'onore, honorable youths, and are not admitted until after an examination of their past conduct, and a trial of arms.

There are, however, two kinds of mafiusi, namely, those who are entitled to a share in the proceeds of their blackmailing, assessments, or profit in smuggling, either against the government or the city’s octroi; and those who are merely entitled to their protection, or aspire eventually to the benefits of the mafia The examination is required only by the first class of members; the form of which, for the aspirant who claims admission to membership and a share in the profits of the society, is the following: Five or six of the chief mafiusi assemble together, and first of all ascertain whether the aspirant has committed any infamous or cowardly act. The greatest and most infamous acts in the mafiuso’s code of honor are having denounced anybody to the police, or by careless talk having caused anybody to be apprehended; having testified as witness against any one, even one who had injured him; or having known any one who had done so, and not warned the mafiusi, in order that they might be on their guard against him; and similar offenses.

A cowardly act is understood to be a refusal to fight, of course with knives, when insulted or called upon. Pickpockets and petty robbers are never admitted into the society, as its members claim to be giovani d’onore. A murder, however, provided it has been committed in actual fight, or for a proper vendetta for actual injuries received, constitutes a claim to membership. A term of imprisonment for a like offense, or for refusal to turn state’s evidence or to testify against any one (especially during the Bourbon rule, when the law allowed the court to keep a man in prison on suspicion of his having been witness to a crime, and refusal to testify), is also a claim for admission to the benefits of active membership.

The trial of arms, which is the other requisite for admission, since the aspirant must give evident proofs that he can star di fronte al ferro, i. e., face the iron, and which is indeed a duel in all the proper forms, is as follows: The five or six chief mafiusi who examine the candidate draw lots, and the one on whom it happens to fall is to be the opponent of the aspirant. They choose a proper ground, generally in some wood or outof-the-way field, where the two combatants doff their coats, or the velvet jacket which is the distinctive dress of that class of people, wrap two or three silk handkerchiefs on their left arms, which they use like a shield,² and hold the knives in their right hands. The blade of these knives, which open and shut like jackknives, is about a foot long, an inch wide at its base, widening to

about an inch and a half in the middle, from which it tapers down to a sharp, double - edged point. When opened it remains strongly fixed by a spring in the handle, and is exclusively used in thrusting, like a rapier, and is just as formidable, or even more so. In these trials of courage the mafiusi never aim at the chest, but only at the arms and shoulders. The other members stand around as seconds or witnesses, in order that no irregularities may take place; but they more particularly watch the countenance of the aspirant, and if they notice the slightest fear or cowardice on his part, they dismiss his claim until he has learned to be brave enough to face the knife, in which case he falls back among the herd of mafiusi who are protected but do not share in the spoils. Should he, however, show the proper courage, the fight goes on until the one or the other receives a wound, which generally is only a flesh wound; when the combat is ended they embrace and kiss each other as brothers, the victor affectionately binds up the wound of the other, and the whole ends with a jolly dinner in a tavern and the admission of the candidate to active membership.

When formally admitted he is entitled to all the privileges of the association in the district in which he resides, or in the trade or profession he practices, together with the other mafiusi; and to an equal share in all the social gains, the black-mail, and the smuggling practiced within it. At the same time he assumes all the duties of the position, and they are not few. He must defend the weak against the strong, the contrabandists against the guards, those persecuted by the police against the officers, and occasionally he must fight, and use his knife, and be the cock of the walk wherever he is.

The aim of the mafiusi is not robbery, but overbearing, domineering over a certain district, being independent of and even above the laws and authorities. Open robbery is confined to the lowest class, and to regular outlaws, whom the association has to protect in conformity with its code, but whom it rather dislikes as interfering with its more safe and profitable black-mailing, smuggling, and other perquisites; it has intelligent leaders both in the cities and in the country; it has watchwords, free passes for all those who belong to it or whom it protects. Its influence is all-pervading, and the better classes, unable to contend against its power, have from time immemorial compromised with it and used it for their own protection. Every large proprietor, almost without exception, employs several armed guards, mostly on horseback; these are almost always of the class of mafiusi; even the royal domains are guarded by this class.

The chief mafiusi in the country are generally country guards, small farmers, and even proprietors, and in the cities the leading fighting men of the different trades and laboring classes. They are perfectly honest in their way, and in fact they are opposed to, and prevent, any petty robberies in their several districts; proprietors find no better protection than theirs, provided they accept with a good grace their small exactions.

To understand the smuggling of the mafiusi, it must be explained that all the city governments of Sicily, like those of Italy and France, are mainly supported by a tax imposed on all comestibles that enter a city for consumption; meat, fish, wine, vegetables, — everything, in fact, pays a tax; and this is paid in the very act of entering the city. An imaginary line is drawn around the city, which comprises all the suburbs, and sometimes even the villages one or two miles off; this line is guarded by municipal armed men, with every now and then an office where the tax is collected throughout the day. Now any one who can escape the vigilance of the guards, and pass the line with comestibles for the city market, saves the tax. Naturally, therefore, this petty contraband is carried on by the lower classes on a, large scale, and the mafiusi are the principal agents in it.

There is no law that can reach their association except arbitrary law, for to all appearance they are, with the exception of the fighters among them, the most quiet, inoffensive, and even benevolent people in the world, feared, respected, and often beloved in their districts, their villages, and their towns, where they sometimes do a great deal of good among their own and the poorer classes. They are found in all the lower classes of the population, among hackmen, masons, marketmen, fishermen, field hands, and laborers generally; even among private servants.

On one occasion I had dismissed a servant for having pawned some silver spoons and gambled the money away. Several other servants immediately applied for the position; but I noticed that every one asked why I had discharged my last servant. The reason of this was that not one of these servants would have consented to serve in my house if I had dismissed my last one for no cause or unjustly; the mafiusi of the servants’ class would have forbidden it, and none of their class would have dared to disobey them. The same may be said of all other different trades. They have their spies, their police, their trials, and their punishments, which they inflict quite surely and severely.

An English traveler became incensed with a hackman in Palermo, which is the great headquarters of the mafiusi, and gave him a push that caused him to fall from his box. Had they been in a secluded spot the Englishman might have got a stab for his pains, for these people are very sensitive to any personal affront, especially if a person lift his hand against them. On this occasion, however, as the occurrence happened in a very crowded square and in front of a guard-house, the hackman merely bit his finger and said, “ Me la pagherai ” (you will pay for it). The Englishman related the occurrence to the landlord of his hotel, who advised him not to go out in the night-time, or in any out-of-the-way place, for that class of people were very vindictive; which advice he followed. But now the irascible Englishman never could find a hackman willing to carry him anywhere; when he applied to one, the hackman was either engaged or just going to the stable, or gave some other excuse. Once he asked his landlord to order a hack for him; the landlord ordered one of the driver whose station was in front of the hotel, and who could not very well refuse, and directed him to take the gentleman to the cathedral. The hackman obeyed and started at a quick trot down the street; hut hardly had he turned the corner when the horse accidentally fell, and could go no farther.

So it went on, until by the advice of a friend, who knew the manners and customs of the natives, the Englishman sought out the offended hackman, and by a present of a napoleon or two made amends for the push he had given him; and then the interdict that had been decreed by the mafiusi against him was raised.

This incident is easily explained. The hackman had recourse to the chief mafiusi of his class, who were bound to protect him, for he, like all the others, paid his regular percentage on all his earnings to the mafia. They could not very well reach the Englishman, and the fact itself did not warrant any open violence against him, as they never resort to it except in very extreme cases; indeed, it would at once bring the authorities upon them in the case of a foreigner, who would not hesitate to testify against them. But they were bound to punish him to satisfy their protégé; and they merely passed the word round that no driver should take the Englishman in his hack on penalty of their displeasure and chastisement, until the gentleman had made proper amends. I have described bow faithfully they were obeyed.

On another occasion a neighbor of mine, Marquis V—, dismissed a servant for having behaved very impertinently and disrespectfully to him. The man had a wife and child who were entirely dependent on him for support, and who lived in the same street. The poor woman went in great distress to the chief mafiusi of her husband’s class, a retired servant who lived on his income and the profits of the mafia, and who undertook to settle the matter satisfactorily.

I remember the fellow well, Cola by name, a portly, jolly, pleasant, smiling, middle-aged man, with a red nose, beaming fat face, small but very sharp black eyes, gray hair and beard, the upper lip and chin shaved, a beautiful set of white teeth, and a pair of shoulders and arms fit for a Hercules; his fat fingers covered with plain gold rings, his flaring red necktie tied in a sailor’s knot, to which was pinned a ducal gold coronet, a souvenir of his late deceased master, who had left him a life pension for good service.

He lorded it over the whole herd of domestics, cooks, porters, and servants generally on that street and section; and there was no more important man in the little café round the corner, and in the billiard and card room at the back of it. He put on his best coat and hat for the occasion, and coming to the house he begged to be admitted by the marquis to a private audience.

I will translate the conversation that took place, using the Sicilian form of language, which is almost Oriental, in order to give a more characteristic idea of the lower class of people of the island. And I must observe that such people, and also the mafiusi, although domineering and overbearing with their own set, are very respectful, obliging, and reverential, I may say, towards the nobility and gentry. A traditional feeling of the vassalage which ceased only in the latter part of the last century still clings to them, and causes them to look up to gentlemen as to superior beings; and unless they suspect on the part of these latter a desire to interfere with their mafiuseria, they are always very deferential to them.

Cola begins: “ Your Excellency ” (in Sicily, with the lower classes, everybody above a professional man is an Excellency; a remnant of the long Spanish rule), “ I have taken the liberty to come and kiss your hand, and to lay at your lordship’s feet a prayer for an act of charity.”

The Marquis. —If it is in my power, Cola, I will do it with great pleasure.

Cola. —Your Excellency is a nobleman such as there are but few of, and worthy to be respected and loved as our Lord Jesus, and as we are in duty bound.

The Marquis. — Thanks, Cola, thanks; but let us hear what it is that you wish.

Cola. — An act of charity, your Excellency, an act of mercy ! Your lordship must do as the confessor to a repentant sinner, lift your hand, absolve, and forgive.

Marquis. — But whom have I to forgive, Cola?

Cola. — That contemptible wretch, that scoundrel, who is not worthy to kiss the dust that your Excellency tramples upon;³ that ill-bred, cowardly beast of a Vincenzo, who would deserve to be tied to a pillar and scourged; however, I will fix him! But your Excellency must consider his poor wife and child. They will be left to starve in the middle of the street. Have pity and charity for the poor woman and her innocent babe; and for her sake forgive Vincenzo and take him back into your service.

Marquis. — But, Cola, consider that the fellow was very impertinent and disrespectful to me, and . . .

Cola. —The wine, marquis, the wine! This new wine, this nasty stuff (schifiu) which they now sell for wine. It must have got into the poor boy’s head. But I will fix him — I will fix him! It will never happen again. Your lordship, however, will do this charity for the love you bear to that holy angel, her ladyship, the marchesa, and your children. Have compassion on his poor family. Do this act of charity; do it for my sake, and I promise you that I will see to his walking straight; and if he ever should dare to fail in his duty to your lordship, he will have to answer to me ! Do it, marquis, and your Excellency can ever after command me as your slave.

Marquis. — Well, well, Cola, let us speak no more about it; let him come back, on condition that such a thing never happens again.

Cola. — Again ? Your Excellency must not doubt that; I give your lordship my word that it will never happen again; or, woe to him, I will eat him like bread! I beg your Excellency’s pardon if I have taken the liberty to disturb you; but your heart is like honey, and the Lord will bless you for a thousand years for the charity you have done to this poor family. I kiss your hand, and if your Excellency has any commands to give, here is always your servant.

Marquis. — Very well, Cola, very well, I will forgive him for this once, and take him back into my service. Good day, Cola, good day.

Cola. — Ever at your Excellency’s feet.

About half an hour after, the goodnatured marquis was requested to look out from his balcony into the courtyard of his house, for Cola wished to say a word to him. The marquis came out as requested, and saw in his court-yard Cola holding Vincenzo by the arm, surrounded by a crowd of watchmen, cooks, scullions, and other domestics of his own and neighboring houses. As he appeared on the balcony, Cola took off his hat to him, and handed it to one of the bystanders; then looking up to the marquis he said, “ Your Excellency, I have brought back the repentant sinner (lu pinitenti); but before he sets foot in your lordship’s house, I wish to give him a reminder that will teach him how to behave ever after to such a worthy master as your lordship; ” and almost before he had finished his sentence, he brought his huge, fat right hand down upon Vincenzo’s left cheek, and again his left hand on Vincenzo’s right cheek, repeating the dose with such a rapidity of movement that poor Vincenzo’s head looked like a floating empty bottle tossed by two opposing waves. It was in vain that the marquis screamed out from the balcony, “ Stop, Cola, stop ; let him go, that is enough, basta, basta! ” The relentless Cola belabored Vincenzo till his face was as red as a carrot. Then, taking him by the ear, he led him to the steps of the wide marble staircase, saying, “ Now go, kiss your master’s feet, beg his pardon, and remember that if ever you commit another offense you will have to deal with me!” and turning to the marquis, who had witnessed the exciting scene with astonishment and trepidation, he continued, “Your Excellency must pardon me for the liberty I have taken, but it was my duty to give your lordship the satisfaction that your goodness deserved.” And from that day forward the Marquis Y— had no more faithful, obedient, and dutiful servant than Vincenzo.

I must observe in this connection that had the marquis personally ill-used and beaten that servant, the whole crowd of his own and other people’s servants would have been against him, and be might have had no end of trouble. But his dismissing him for the offense committed was considered just; and his taking him back at the request of the big man or mafiuso of his class was deemed a very noble and charitable act, and deserving of their respect and consideration; and Vincenzo submitted quietly and humbly to the severe boxing inflicted by Cola as a due punishment for his offense, which he would have resented, and with him all his class, if it had come from the marquis himself.

There is also another curious and very characteristic peculiarity about this chastisement. Cola used his hands on Vincenzo’s face because he was somewhat related to him through his wife, and therefore he had in some sort the rights of consanguinity over him. Had Vincenzo been a total stranger he could not have used his hands, but a leather strap, a cowhide, or even his feet; for to lay hands on a man’s face, unless by an older relative, is a dishonor to him, and the offended person would have a right to resent it, and even resort to a vendetta, if he could not get proper redress in any other way; and everybody would side with him. This prejudice is also of Oriental origin, for in the East it is a dishonor and loss of caste if one’s face or beard has been touched by another. A sound cowhiding is considered less dishonorable than a box on the ear.

I had lived a year or two in Sicily, when, on account of the health of my wife and children, I thought it advisable to leave the city and reside a little way out of town, where they could have the use of a garden and plenty of out-door exercise. A charming villa was to let in a most picturesque and healthy locality, commanding an extensive view of the valley of Palermo, the Conca d'Oro (“Golden Shell”) of the Sicilian poets, with the lofty chain of mountains as a background on one side, and on the other a magnificent distant view of the lovely bay. The only objection was that the neighborhood was a perfect nest of mafiusi, whose principal business was to smuggle provisions into the city, especially oil and wine. But being properly advised as to my way of action in order to avoid any unpleasantness, I hired the place and took up my abode in the villa.

This was built in a very baroque style of architecture, half Gothic, half Tuscan, with a magnificent terrace on the street side, to which we had access through every Italian window in the house, or I may say through every room, for the apartment was all on one flat. The terrace, adorned with enormous flower vases containing magnolias, a fig-tree, aloes, and various cactuses, was about eight feet above the public road, from which any active young man could have jumped into it. Parallel with this, at the back of the house, was another immense terrace, one hundred feet long by fifty wide, paved with different - colored sea pebbles in mosaic, with a design forming twelve oval figures in white pebbles us corners, and with representations within them of the old Greco-Sicilian and later escutcheons, such as the three-legged Medusa or Trinacria, the Syracusan horse, the Arab crescent, the Norman chess - bars, the Swabian black eagle, the pillars of Spain, and other devices. This inner terrace, adorned by a superb oleander bush in the middle, large vases of flowers all around, and an immense vine overspreading it like an awning of green foliage, overlooked a delightful garden full of citrons, or anges, lemons, mandarin oranges, figtrees, two lofty palm-trees, and every variety of aloes, cactuses, roses, pinks, heliotropes, and sweet-scented flowers in Oriental profusion, so that in the months of May and June we were often obliged to shut the windows on account of the overpowering fragrance that arose from it.

The garden was surrounded by a wall seven feet high, bordering on one side the garden of a city hospital-physician and on the other overlooking the vast estates of a foreign royal duke. The street that led to it from the city was one of the usual suburban roads leading out to the open country, lined on each side with two and three story houses, all of a very recent construction, excepting two or three old palaces, inhabited mostly by the lower population in the rooms on a level with the streets, by the middle class on the first floor or flat, and by the better class in the socalled quarti nobili (“noble quarters”) when there were any.

In Southern Italy, and especially in Naples and Sicily, all the different classes not only reside in the same street, but generally in the same building, as here stated. At the same time they are as much separated from each other as if they lived in different houses; for the lower people enter their rooms through doors in the street itself, the dwellers on the first floors through side doors and narrow staircases, and the master of the house, or the people who occupy the quarto nobile, through the main carriage entrance and great marble staircase. The court-yard behind this, with the stables, carriage houses, and garden, are always included in the quarto nobile.

This is also a remnant of the Middle Ages. In those times each feudatory baron, each bishop or abbot of a religious order, built an immense palace, abbey, monastery, or convent, in which he lived with his retinue of gentlemen, knights, squires, armed retainers, servants, and vassals of all kinds. There were barons in Sicily that could issue from their city palaces with a suite of thirty gentlemen, fifty knights and their esquires, and two hundred armed soldiers, who together with the innumerable domestics and members of their several families formed quite a Small population within one palace. The same might be said of the immense convents and monasteries, some of which are so large that they now accommodate comfortably two regiments of troops, — some three thousand men. These immense edifices were built of solid blocks of stone that have stood for centuries, and will stand for ages to come. When feudalism was abolished, some sixty years ago, these noble houses all decayed, and the nobility, unable any longer to keep up the old style of living, had to dismiss their immense retinues of followers and domestics, and, retiring into the so-called quarti nobili for their residence, let out all the other parts of their immense palaces, which thus became the lodgings and quarters of the different classes of the population.

Our villa, however, was of modern construction, and had no other occupants except the owner and his family, who inhabited the upper quarter, and the gardener and his family, who lived in a lodge close to the garden. All the rest of the house was ours, with the full right to the flowers and fruits of the garden, excepting only the oranges and lemons, a very valuable product, which the owner reserved to himself, allowing us, however, a certain number of these trees for our use. The population of the road in which it was situated seemed very quiet, and we noticed that the lower classes were exceedingly respectful to all the gentry and the several noblemen that resided in it. They were mostly gardeners to the several proprietors who owned houses in the road (for each house had a fine garden at the back of it, and sometimes considerable estates extending towards the mountains three miles distant), or cartmen, blacksmiths, farriers, and what seemed a very idle crew of laborers, who did little or nothing in the day-time except to loaf in the different wine shops and at the barber’s. I was informed that this barber and the gardener of our villa were the most reputed, respected, and feared among them.

A day or two after I had taken up my residence in the villa, perceiving our gardener alone in the garden, I stepped down through a private staircase leading to it, so as to have a talk with him. The moment he saw me he came up hat in hand, addressing me with the usual salutation of that class of people, “ At your Excellency’s feet. Have you any commands to give me! ” ⁴

“ Good morning, Zu Paulu; how do you do? How is your family? ” One must always ask these people about their families, whether knowing them or not. Zu is an appellative given to all middleaged or old laborers, and particularly to farmers and gardeners; it is derived from zio, uncle.

Zu Paulu was a true specimen of the Sicilian gardener, especially of those of the valley of Palermo, who serve in the villas and estates of the noblemen and proprietors of the soil. He combined the several offices of gardener, hunter, armed guard, retainer, and mafiuso generally over all the field hands and other dependents in the garden and estate of his master, and many others beside. He was a short, thick-set man, with a small head, jet-black hair cut very short, except for two locks that issued from his temples and came down to his cheekbones, and there slightly turned up; his face was close shaved, except a strip of beard coming down from his ear almost to his chin, similar to that of the Spanish toreadores, and probably a tradition of the Spanish dominion in Sicily; his eyes, black and piercing as an eagle’s, revealed a passionate temperament, capable of both generous and ferocious actions, but held under complete control; his complexion was of the olive tint that recalls the Arab rule of the island. He was extremely respectful in his demeanor, but not servile; and though ready and

willing to do anything you might ask of him, if properly treated, yet he would be a very difficult or impossible character to manage if you showed him the slightest disrespect or nonchalance.

His dress was the usual dress of all the gardeners of that class, — a suit of olive-colored cotton velvet; the trousers very wide over the thick-soled and bignailed undyed leather shoes, with a row of six round bright brass buttons, and held fast to his waist by a very long red silk knitted scarf, whose tassels appeared from under his vest. This latter garment had three pockets on each side, one above the other, each containing a different hunting article, such as caps, powder-flask, wadding; a graduating brass measure for the powder charge and a brass needle to clean the lock of the gun were fastened to copper wire chains dangling, on each side of the pockets like the late style of double watch-chains. Around the lower part of this vest ran a leather lining or belt, containing different kinds of shot and a small number of ball-cartridges. On the facings of his jacket were embroidered in silver the arms of the padrone, a nobleman; and the rim of his wide-awake gray hat, turned up on one side, displayed the same device in a silver-plated buckle that fastened it to the crown. The usual red bandanna neck-handkerchief, tied in a sailor’s knot, and the four or five plain gold rings on his fingers, completed the attire.

“ We are all well, thanks to the madonna, and at your Excellency’s service,” replied Zu Paulu respectfully.

“This a beautiful garden; do you take the whole care of it? ” said I, with a motion of the hand allowing him to put on his hat again, which he did with an “ As you command.”

“I do, signorino. " Signorino is a term of respectful familiarity, applied by the older dependents to their young masters, and kept up until these get to be grandfathers.

“ You have some very charming flowers here; my wife was perfectly delighted with the bunch you sent in this morning. “ I will not trouble you much about them, but the signorina, my wife, who is extremely fond of flowers, will occupy you somewhat. And, by the way, although by the term of my lease I am not bound to give any remuneration, since the service of the gardener is included in the rent I pay, yet in consideration of the extra work you may do in taking particular care of my wife’s favorite flowers, I will assign you five dollars a month as long as I reside here.”

“ Thanks to your bounty, and I hope the siguorina will be satisfied with my work.”

“ Please tell me, Zu Paulu,” said I, looking at him straight in the face with a peculiar sly-stupid expression; “ my wife and I have noticed, during the last few nights, that many birds sing both in our garden and in the adjoining ones. Is it not extraordinary for birds to be singing in the night ? ”

The face of Zu Paula brightened up at this point of the conversation. He raised his black, piercing eyes, which he had held till then respectfully lowered, and fixed them upon mine with an inquisitive look, as if to see whether I was to be trusted or not. The conclusion he came to must have been satisfactory, for he replied, —

“ The signorino must not mind that; they are not birds, but i picciotti e i guardiani [the boys and the guards] of the neighborhood, who amuse themselves imitating the birds’ calls.” And he fixed again his eyes on mine with a very sly look.

“ Oh, yes, I understand” (though I really did not, and actually suspected worse than it was); “ they thus amuse themselves in order to keep a good guard on the fruits and the villas. I suppose, therefore, that there is no danger of robbers here, or of anybody entering the house in the night ? ”

“ Entering the house ? My padrone’s villa? Signorino! You can sleep tranquilly and with every window open on the garden side; nobody will dare to enter this villa; I am guard as well as gardener, and my double-barreled gun is very well known in the neighborhood. Have no fear of that: i picciotti mi portanu rispettu ” (the boys respect me).

He said these last words with such assurance as entirely to remove any doubts in my mind as to the safety of the villa, for I knew the influence and power that such people exercise over their own class. Being thus assured on the garden side, I thought also of looking to it on the side of the road, and so making it doubly sure. I have very little need of a barber, as I shave myself, and most of my hair disappeared years ago; still, on account of his being an important and useful personage, I sent for Don Piddu. (How the name of St. Joseph, in Sicilian Giuseppi, was ever reduced to the diminutive of Piddu, is one of those philological metamorphoses that baffle the most erudite investigators.)

Don Piddu came; a short, fat, roundbellied man, who seemed always overfilled with maccaroni, with a face plump, smiling, and shining as a full moon, small gray eyes, and chestnut hair cut very close. He dressed very gaudily, imitating the gentleman style, in drab trousers, light blue coat, and a large white vest with an enormous gold chain dangling from its pocket. He did not display the slightest indication of the mafiuso except the uncommon number of rings on his fingers; with this distinction, however, that while the mafiusi generally wear perfectly plain gold ones, his on the contrary had stones of all sorts, with initials, ciphers, and cameos.

He came in with a dignified air and that attempt at elegant confidential deference customary with figaros. When I told him that I only desired to have my hair cut, for I shaved myself, he looked at the top of my head somewhat disconcertedly. But I reassured him by telling him that I intended to employ him once or twice a week to comb and trim my children’s hair, and for that service I assigned him the usual monthly pay of two dollars. This of course put him in good humor at once, and he chatted for an hour, in which time I learned all, and more than I eared to know about every family of any note that resided in that road.

As he was getting through his work, I asked, carelessly, “ Don Piddu, how is it about the safety of this road? Can I come home late in the night without fear of robbery on the way? ”

“ Robbery in our street, signorino!” exclaimed Don Piddu with a look of astonishment mixed with an expression of offended authority. “ Your Excellency can rest assured on that ground; the road is as safe as a church, day and night; it is inhabited by honest people, and there is no danger for any galantuomo that resides in it.”

“I am glad to hear you say so, Don Piddu, and I only asked because, as I may be coming home late in the evening, I wanted to be assured that the road is safe; especially as the terrace on the roadside is so low that anybody could easily jump on to it and break into the house in the night.”

“ Into this house ? Who would dare to enter this villa? Zu Paulu is the gardener, and I serve the padrone and now your Excellency; who do you suppose would dare to break into it? ”

If Don Piddu had been the head of police of that quarter he could not have spoken with the same assurance. But to try him further I said, “ What are all these bird calls that we hear during the night all around the gardens, Don Piddu ? ”

Don Piddu looked at me with a sly wink in his eye, then said, “ The signorino has lived so long in foreign parts that he has forgotten all the ways of his native country. They are not birds, but i picciotti. With this new government they have increased the taxes so much, and the cost of living is so much higher. that the poor people must try to get their living the best way they can, and to do so they must work even in the night.”

“But can I walk in my garden with impunity when I hear these bird calls? ”

“ Why not, signorino? You are master everywhere and at all hours. Only, if you hear anything unusual, you merely pretend to be deaf; and if you see anybody hovering about the garden, pretend to be blind; and I assure you that you can live here as safe as in a convent of monks. ”

This conversation reassured me, but still I was very curious to learn what was the kind of work that was going on in the different gardens during the night, for at irregular intervals the bird calls would be heard all around.

One beautiful autumn evening, when I heard them repeatedly in the distance and gradually coming near, I went down into the garden and began to walk up and down through the several intricate passage-ways, smoking my cigar. All of a sudden I saw ahead appear on the top of the high wall bordering the physician’s garden, and as I approached, the man, or big boy rather, recognized me and took off his cap, bowed respectfully, and addressed to me the usual salutation of those people, “ At your Excellency’s feet.” “ Good evening,” said I, and continued my walk and smoke, pretending to take no further notice of what he and those that came after him were doing, but still watching to see what the next move would be. I heard men whispering in the doctor’s garden, and the usual bird calls answering calls at different distances.

The man, seeing the coast clear, for I was the only person there, leaped into our garden, and another man appeared on top of the wall, who, after the usual bow and salutation to me, as I happened in my walk to approach the place where he was, placed himself astride upon it. Then began a regular transfer of Wine barrels that their companions on the other side handed to the man sitting astride on the wall, who, in his turn, handed them to the man inside. After they had accomplished the transfer of Some twelve or fifteen barrels, as many men (those very people noticed by us loafing in the day-time about the several shops of the road) climbed over the wall, jumped in, and, each lifting a barrel on his shoulder, cut across our garden. As they passed by me, who stood watching the whole performance, each took off his cap, and respectfully saluted me with the usual refrain: “At your Excellency’s feet; ” “Your lordship’s blessing;” “I kiss your Excellency’s hand; ” to each of whom I repeated my buona sera. When they reached the opposite wall of the garden they performed the same operation, and disappeared into the royal duke’s estate, whence, doubtless, that wine entered the city without paying the octroi tax, amounting to about twenty-live cents a barrel.

That very evening my friend the padrone, and also our neighbor, the city physician, came down to pay us a visit. In the course of conversation I inquired regarding what I had seen in the garden; and they both told me that that kind of contraband was carried on to a great extent, and had been for years; that in fact, the greater part of the lower population of the neighborhood subsisted by it ; that it was known, but there was no remedy for it. It was not a criminal offense, and the city had no other authority except that of seizing and confiscating the articles whenever found in the act of being smuggled. The city had no right to enter private dwelling’s or estates, so that things could be seized only when passing through the line on coming from the country, or in the streets when without the proper voucher certifying to their having paid the city tax. For that reason these people always avoided the streets or roads and crossed the gardens.

I asked them what would be the consequence should they—especially the doctor, who was a paid officer of the city — give notice to the authorities of this illicit traffic, so that they might set a trap and seize the contraband articles. “What!” said this latter, “denounce these people? Why, the city would gain nothing except for once a few barrels of common wine; for the mafiusi would soon find some other passage-way; but we, why, we would surely be assassinated within the twenty-four hours! ”

The padrone added to this, “ And what would become of our security? We could not sleep quietly in our beds without fear of being either murdered or robbed. These people, who know all the rogues in town, never allow any robbery to take place where they reside and carry on their operations, for a robbery would attract the eye of the police and spoil their quiet work. I was born here, and never remember a robbery in this street; and you will notice that although such large numbers of these men go freely in and out of our gardens, they never touch an orange, a lemon, or a bunch of grapes; and they tread so lightly with their bare feet as hardly to disturb the very grass they trample upon. It is their interest to keep on good terms with all the proprietors, and they actually protect us and our property better than the government can. ”

I naturally took note of it, and acted accordingly. And I must acknowledge that, in five years that I resided in that villa, returning home very often late at night, alone and on foot, I was never molested, and my house and garden were never disturbed, although in the summer we slept with all the windows open.

Another remarkable thing in those nocturnal and very often twilight perambulations of wine barrels and oilskins was that we never saw any of the chief mafiusi take a direct part in it. They were, indeed, all round about, watching and directing from a distance, but never with the caravan itself, which was mostly composed of vigorous and active big boys.

We had been some time in the island, but never had visited any of the many interesting and remarkable antiquities of the old Greek period of Sicily; or rather my wife had not. I myself having visited them in my boyhood. But it was considered, at the time of which I write, very unsafe to travel in the interior on account of the continual robberies that took place. The country was then infested by the renitenti, that is, the young men who had been drawn in the conscription, and, rather than serve in the army, had fled to the mountains and hid among the vast landed estates, where they lived by plunder.⁵

A distinguished young English lady, an amateur artist of great merit, who was spending the winter in Sicily in company with an elderly lady and her daughter, desired very much to visit the ancient temple of Segeste, and my wife also was very anxious to join the prty. The English consul had offered to obtain for them an escort of gens-d' armes; but when they consulted with me I went to my padrone, who said: “ No, no, do not have a military escort, unless a very strong one, for the picciotti would mind that very little; and seeing them pass by the road, and imagining the travelers to be very rich people, they would lie in ambush, in sufficient numbers, in some difficult mountain pass, and on their return, for they must come back by the same road, they might fire a volley into the escort and horses; and although the troops may defend and rescue the party, yet think of the danger and the fright that the ladies would undergo. No, no, you had better trust these people, for you know the picciotti will never attack women, even to rob them, except under the strongest inducement of gain.”

Tn reference to this regard for women, an explanation as to the nature of the Sicilians in general, and of the lower classes in particular, is very necessary. Travelers who have visited Italy and other countries of Europe must have noticed in many places women at work in the fields and other out-of-door labor, especially in Naples and the Roman campagna. The Sicilians, even of the very poorest class of the rural people, will never compel or allow their women to do out-of-door work; and although they treat them as inferior beings and with Oriental jealousy, yet they consider it unmanly and disgraceful to exact any work of them except within their households. “ Geloso come un Sieiliano ” (as jealous as a Sicilian) is a common proverb in Italy; the slightest offense, either real or imaginary, against the honor of their wives, daughters, or any of the female members of their family, they would resent and avenge with all the savagery of their volcanic nature. One half of the bloody crimes and vendettas in the island are the result of this exaggerated idea of the honor of their women. In like manner they judge of others, and though they may attack, rob, and molest a man, they would never touch a woman for fear of the vendetta; and I must give them credit for an innate wild generosity towards the weaker sex.

My padrone said to me, “ Why do you not ask Zu Paulu about it? He is a great hunter, and knows every foot of ground and everybody in that part of the country; he can tell you whether it is safe or not, or how to manage it.”

Acting on his advice I sent for Zu Paulu, and when I told him my desire, he said, “ Really, at this season of the year the weather is rather unfavorable for such an excursion, but if you could obtain the services of the right kind of driver, he would know how to avoid the rain.”

These people generally speak in a figurative language, which only a native, watching closely the expression of their eyes, can comprehend ; the above sentence should be understood as follows: “ At the present moment, the country is not safe from marauders, but if you could get a man who has the proper influence and authority with them, there will be no danger whatever.”

“ And who would be the proper driver? ” inquired I.

“ The only one I could recommend is Gnuri Gaitanu” (Gnuri is the appellative of all coachmen), “ who keeps a livery stable behind the cathedral.”

On his recommendation I sent for this Gnuri Gaitanu, or, as he was more usually called abbreviatively, Gnu Tanu. He came to my office the next day. He was a tall, wiry, athletic man of about forty-five, with black hair moderately sprinkled with gray; an oval face of a Moorish, olive tint, but darkened by its constant exposure to the hot Sicilian sun; an aquiline nose, black, piercing eyes, close lips, pointed chin. Had he worn his beard full, and donned a burnouse, he might have easily passed for an Arab chief.

“ Gnu Tanu,” said I to him, “ my wife and three English ladies wish to make an excursion to the temple of Segeste. You have been recommended to me as the best, coachman to take charge of them, so I have called you to make some arrangements about the trip. Can you undertake it? ”

“Ever at your service, signorino. Is there no gentleman going with the party? ”

“ None; for my wife’s friends are traveling alone, and my duties will not allow me to leave my post; so I must entrust the four ladies entirely to you.”

“ Ever at your commands, signorino. And when do the ladies wish to go? ”

“ I leave that to you to decide; but as soon as the weather is favorable, Gnu Tanu.”

“ Next week, then, signorino, next week; because the weather is not quite settled yet, and besides, I have an engagement to carry a party to Trapani, and as I go over the road I will prepare lodgings for the ladies at Aleamo, where they have to sleep two nights in order to make the trip comfortably. There are no inns at Alcamo, except for cartmen; but I have a friend there, and he will prepare a couple of decent rooms for the accommodation of the ladies,”

“ And what are your charges, Gnu Tanu? ”

“ We will settle that when I shall have served you, signorino.”

“ What money or provision will the ladies have to carry ? ”

“ Nothing, signorino, absolutely nothing. I will look out for all their wants, and I request that you will advise the ladies to wear their oldest and commonest traveling dresses; and particularly to wear no jewels of any kind, no watches, nothing, in fact; for these things might get broken, be lost or stolen, and at any rate it is always best to avoid giving temptation. As to the time of the day, I have a good watch,” and he pulled out a big silver one to show me that he really had it, “ and besides, I can tell it by looking at the sun.”

“ Very well, Gnu Tanu, I will tell the ladies to do so. And how is it about the safety of the road ; is there any danger? ”

Gnu Tanu straightened himself up with an air of offended dignity; he lifted his right arm with spread-out hand, which he placed over his wide chest, and with an expression of self-assurance and pride he exclaimed, “ Danger ? Signorino, vannu cu mia! ” (They go with me!)

Had he been the very king of the mountains he could not have spoken with more dignity and assurance.

“ Next Monday morning, at nine o’clock, I will be at your house with my carriage. At your Excellency’s feet.”

That was the only arrangement I made with Gnu Tanu. Ear the narrative of the excursion, I will quote some passages of my wife’s diary to me.

Gnu Tanu is a jewel of a coachman, so intelligent, so thoughtful, and so gallant, I may say. He treats us with a sort of respectful, guardian-like authority, as if we were four young misses under his strict charge; allowing us all our whims, but never for a moment losing sight of us, so much so that at times we think him somewhat too intrusive and authoritative for our independent Anglo-Saxon nature. The manner of travel also is so very novel for us. You noticed, when Gnu Tanu came for us this morning, how the horses were harnessed three abreast, with flaunting peacocks’ feathers on their heads, and a leather collar full of jingling bells that reminded me so much of our sleigh drives; and the carriage with its white canvas-top to protect us from the sun, and that immense rope net spread like a hammock under it, which contained all sorts of baskets and boxes with our provisions for the three days’ journey; and the funny, black-eyed boy who sat by Gnu Tanu, and who was occasionally dispatched by us to pick some rare wild flower, but who during the hot part of the day slid quietly under the carriage, and to our astonishment got himself into that very net among the baskets and boxes, and had a delightful siesta, bouncing over the hot, dusty road.

We reached Monreale a few minutes after ten, and stopped a little while in the square of the old Norman cathedral, to rest the horses after the steep ascent. The usual crowd of beggars surrounded our carriage at once; and such a ragged and rascally-looking crew I never saw in my life. But the most curious part of it was that the moment Gnu Tanu came out from the hostelry, where he he had gone in for a few minutes, and saw that crowd surrounding our carriage, for there must have been at least thirty of them, he cleared his way through, thrusting them right and left; then he called one of them, an old man with only one arm, hut with a face that would have easily answered for a patriarch of bandits, put some money into his hand, and then told him to clear all that rabble from our carriage; and, wonderful to relate, at a motion from his hand they all scampered off without the slightest murmur, and resumed their places on the stone steps and curb-stones of the balustrade of the church, without daring to come near us, or soliciting any more alms, as is customary with all beggars in Italy; but there they all sat under the hot sun, staring at us, and waiting for some other travelers to pounce upon.

We started soon after, and, skirting the mountain, entered a long up-hill plateau with more mountains in the distance. We met very few people on the road, and those mostly peasants and cartmen; occasionally we could see laborers working in the fields.

Everybody seemed to know Gnu Tanu, and generally they saluted him with the following, or similar words : “ Salutamu, o Gnu Tanu, chi jamu facennu a St’ ura? ” (Hail, coachman Tanu, what are you doing at this hour?) And he would reply, “ Tutti I’uri sunnu boni pr’ abbuscarisi lu pani” (All hours are good to earn one’s bread). He always answered with the same words, no matter how he was addressed; it was always about his “earning his bread.”

Towards one o’clock we began to feel hungry, and expressed our wish to stop in some shady place and have a lunch. But Gnu Tanu said that within a couple of miles he would stop at the feudo (estate) of Baron O—, whose curatulo (head farmer) was a friend of his, and expecting us, and there we could lunch at our ease under an orange grove, or in the fine villa attached to the place. In due time we reached the villa, and the curatulo, just such a looking man as Zu Paulu, our gardener, received us with great politeness, and showed us into the baron’s villa, where a table was already prepared in the dining-room, with nothing, however, to eat, except some green almonds, strawberries, lettuces, sweet fennel, and several qualities of wines; but Gnu Tanu produced one of the baskets from his immense rope-net under the carriage, containing all sorts of good things, and we had a delightful lunch. When we got through and were ready to resume our journey, we tried to slip a ten-franc piece into the hands of the curatulo, but he very politely refused to take it. Gnu Tanu noticed it, and very respectfully but positively objected to our offering money to anybody, so that after that we let. him have his own way.

While we were at lunch in the diningroom that looked upon a side esplanade of the villa, we noticed a number of men with guns, who, we were told, were guards of the estate, all with their velvet suits and red caps. They were a very wild-looking set. Gnu Tanu seemed to be hand and glove with them all, and they had something to eat and plenty to drink together, sitting outside under the orange-trees. We reached Alcamo as the bells were ringing the Ave Maria. The impression the place gave us was as if we had entered in the evening the streets of Pompeii repeopled, with its ancient populace swarming about or sitting in front of their doors to breathe the cool evening breeze. Everything looked so old, dingy, moldy, oil-lampsmoky, and overcrowded; the shape of the lamps precisely the same as the old Roman, the very bread on the bakers’ counters in front of their houses of the exact shape of that found carbonized in the ovens of Pompeii, and the oil and water jars of the same shape and material.

The little house we stop at is a twostory building with only three rooms below, kept as a sort of eating-house by an old woman and her son, and three above, one opening into another, prepared for our use : the inner room containing four beds for us ; the second room, in which I am writing; for a sort of dining-room; and the first room for Gnu Tanu himself.

We had an excellent dinner after we arrived here, for these people certainly know how to cook their national dishes, and I am sure we never tasted better maccaroni. The hostess’s son is a very fine-looking fellow, and he seems to be a great friend of Gnu Tanu. He is going to accompany us to the temple tomorrow.

Tuesday morning. As I finished my writing I thought I would lock the outer door, but there was no key to it. I tried to open it, to see whether it was on the outside, but I found that we were barricaded, for Gnu Tanu had pushed his bed across it, and lay there probably asleep. At the noise I made he asked whether we wished for anything. I told him that I only wished to lock the door. He replied that there was no key to it, but that we need not be worried about it, he was there.

Evening. We got up at sunrise this morning, and started immediately after having had a cup of coffee and fresh goat’s milk, with bread and butter, on our way to Calatafimi. Our hostess’s son, dressed up in his very best, with a brand-new suit of velvet, Masaniello’s red cap, a flaring, party - colored bandanna neck-handkerchief, and lots of rings on his fingers, looking very smart and brigandish, sat with Gnu Tanu on his box; the black-eyed boy having vanished into his rope-net under the carriage.

We reached Calatafimi at about eight o’clock, and stopped in front of a sort of hostelry, reminding Miss S—very much of a Spanish venta. There we found seven donkeys ready saddled, four for us, one for Gnu Tanu, another for his friend, and another led by a big boy to carry our baskets of provisions.

As we went out of Calatafimi the road went down and down into a deep valley, and on the top of a desolate, barren, rugged hill on the other acclivity stood the famous temple of Segeste. The ascent to it was extremely fatiguing, and when we reached the summit our first thought was to spread out the contents of our baskets, for we were all very hungry. Gnu Tanu had thought of everything, even of an alcohol lamp to heat the water for a cup of tea, which on the top of those mountains, where the air is so rarefied, was exceedingly welcome.

We stopped there nearly four hours, and would have stayed longer, but Gnu Tanu would not consent to it; he wanted to be on the road only by daylight, for as he said, “ Di jornu nni cunuscemu tutti, ma la notti è di li cucchi ” (In the daytime we all know each other, but the night belongs to the owls); one of your funny Sicilian proverbs, is it not?

We have had a most delightful and successful excursion so far, everybody has been so kind to us, even the usually importunate beggars, who seemed to stand in awe of our driver and his friend, and have not troubled us at all.

The next evening I was anxiously awaiting the return of the party, as I had heard reports of several attacks upon the mail coaches and several attempts at robbery in the very roads that my wife and her friends had gone over during those nights of their visit to Segeste. They were expected to arrive by six or at least by seven o’clock, but it got to be nine and they had not yet made their appearance: however, a few minutes after, we heard the jingling of the horses’ bells, and presently Gnu Tanu, smartly cracking his whip, entered the court-yard of the house. The ladies all came in as jolly and happy as could be, expatiating on the successful excursion and charming time they had had. Gnu Tanu also came in, and, with the air of a faithful steward proud to have accomplished his duty, said, “ Signurinu, ci li cunsignu sani e salvi ” (Sir, I consign them back to you safe and sound). I did not see him again for a week or ten days, and when he came and brought me the bill I found it perfectly fair and moderate, and in fact less than the usual hotel charges for such excursions would have been.

And now, why could he pass unmolested over the very roads that were at the time beset by robbers, and on the same days that other robberies were committed all along those roads? The reader must have understood it, without doubt. Gnu Tanu had passwords and signals, and no one would have dared to touch him, as all the marauders belonged, like himself, to the mafia.

I have given so far only the bright side of the picture; but there is a dark one, and terribly so. This corrupt association. relic of the foreign yoke that oppressed Italy and especially Sicily for the last three hundred years, weighs like a black, leaden pall over that beautiful island, and excludes the light of liberty that has dawned on Italy. The crimes committed by its members to maintain their baneful influence are enormous. Respectable men dare not be witnesses against criminals, juries dare not convict them for fear of their vendetta. All the peaceful and honest citizens are held under awe of the power of the mafia; the proprietors are regularly taxed, and so is every branch of industry. In the country it is all-powerful, in the cities influential. But will the new laws passed by the Italian government destroy it? It would be out of place for me to answer the question, as I intended only to give an idea of the working, in Sicily, of this evil, so different from brigandage, not to propose plans for its suppression. But, as past experience has demonstrated, though brigandage can be suppressed by strong measures, the mafia cannot be, by mere force. All laws and punishments are futile against it; these may suppress open violence, actual robberies; but the underhand mafia, thriving by the willing or forced submission of a large part of the population, can never be suppressed by legislative enactments. General education, enlightenment, the opening of roads and railroads, the subdivision of the land among small proprietors, especially the vast domains abandoned and left uncultivated by the lately suppressed religious corporations, the spread of liberal ideas, and, above all, the conviction among the mass of the honest people, especially among the peasantry, that the protection of the liberal Italian government is more manly, honorable, and safe (and the government should endeavor to make it so) than that of the mafiusi, can with time destroy this vast association which for centuries has gnawed the very vitals of industry in Sicily, and restore that fertile island to her ancient fruitfulness, intellectual, agricultural, and commercial.

Luigi Monti.