The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-01-27 00:00:00

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NIIAN.

EXTRACT,
WltetT4 NMI( A NaS vur.•E TO silt

46 Our principal objects of research, grille Vitt re-
mained at oyractuz to pros:ore treslS water, were
the cataci.nuba or burying-places of the ancient Sy-
racur.tos We were conducted by an old capuchin
tiii r
at me entrance to elec.., un our hands and kneas,but
we soon iOund it sulliciently kitty. The streets and
alleys into which these vaults are cut, cross each
otaer in every direction, anal had our guide estin-
guislied sits torcib.'we intibt have remained in this
dismal abode till mater' by the hand of death, as it
would be very duiteutt tur a SLlAUtter to tied his
way out, even with A light, without it, impossible.
At certain we came to large tumid chum-
at,be tionte-lik.,: root admitted a small por-
tion of light and air trim an aperture in the upper
part. Inc walls tif that rooms were covered with
a sort of stucco, and round them were placed, in
unitorin directions, .t number of stone coffins like
those we saw on each side of the alleys. These
were ercay.iteil from the solid mock, and of various
dinien4iiiir.. some appearing scarcely large enough
for a new-bola. infant. We were informed that
skeletons had been found in sonic of them, with a
piece of nioney in their jaws ; perhaps, to pay the
ferryman of the 6tys for weir passage to the regiolis

ut
" H e next proceeded to a rrnmastery of capu-
chins situated on an eminence near the sea. It is a
neat airy building, placed on a barren rock,
withuut any appe.uanee of vegetation near it: tint
no sooner had we paid our respeas to the reverend
fathers, than we were cc:lda:tett by them into sun-
tett aneous gardens, where verdure and vegetation
flourished in the higti.:st degree. The scene ap
peace d like ,:acilaninieut, nor could we at tirst de-
vise the cause of it, till, on examination, we disco-
veriAl that we were in the same sort of excavations
as the laio iii ie we had before visited. By jour
and culuvation, the grow:d, rendered rich and pro-
ductive, is become a lu;:uriaut orchard of orange,

linnon, and olive trees.
" The undercrott or cemetery_ of this monastery
contains as curious a setae as any we had yet wit.
nessed. . We entered it by a flight of steps through
a trap-door in the nave of the ctiapel, and found it
as light as the place we had just lent, having win-
dows in the vaulted roof. But ous attention was
immediately called off from other matters to an as-
seniblag,e of venerable personages arranged along
the wail, in nieh..s termed for the purpose: they
were all dressed in the habit of Saint k rancis,
and, at thst sight, km the appearance of life ; but
on close examination their skin appeared dry, shri-
veled, aad as hard as wood ; sonte of them had
been cane for near two centuries; many of them
were decorated with lung flowing beards, others had
vane; whether fallen oft by time, or the fashion of
the as.; they lived in, 1 cannot say; the monks of
the present uay being distinguished by a profusion
of that ornament. besides the bodies of the monks,
We saw those of the nobility and gentry who could
affind the expense of this mode of sepulture ; for the
worthy monks do not permit the intrusion of imhal-
loweu Piny into their socieLy, 'clout receiving, be-
sides the entrance fee, a handsonie yearly compen-
sation for it, which is paid in valious ways. Some
contribute annually a wax-caudie of many pounds
weight; and should any omission of the payment
occur, the unfortunate ancestor of the defaulter is
turned out of his place-to make room for another.
These strangers are • generally babited in their best
suits, and are laid in boxes with lids, fastened by
kicks, which were opened for our inspection f
of them had bag-wip, ruffles, and laced coats, anti
presented a very frightful satire on human vanity.
No ladies are admitted of this silent party. /The
ornaments of this solemn repository are entirely ap-
propriate : round the cornices and over the altar,
which has a crucifix on it, are skulls and cross-
bones, and over the entrance to the chapel is this
motto—Cosnoune mori, mar: nail percit honori."
In a visit which the authorpaid, in company with
Lord Nelson, Sir William and Lady livinukon, ate.
to a more capacious cemetry of this kind near Pa-
lermo, and in which the nnmber sat hodie: amount-
ed, as he was informed, to no le.s than ;S,OJO, he
gives some account of the manner of preparing them
to resist the ravages of time.
" Our conductor, he says, shewed us a door of
the even in which these bodies were dried, and
would fails have invited the ladies to see the process;
but on entering, they hastily retired;. and well they
might, for the first object that saluted their eyes was
the body of a fit offleer,who had died only uie day
before as he was on duty at the Mole. I wished to
know something of the process, but could not un-
derstand it : the hotly was extended on a low stove,
and covered with a sheet, seemingly preparatory to
the operation. When die body is properly prepared,
the door of the oven is carefully closed, so as to
admit none of the external air. After remaining
six months in this place, it is sufficiently dried to be
placed. in the niche or coffin, as required; the skin
then appears drv, shrivelled, and hard, apparently of
the substance of tanned leather.
" While on the Egyptian coast," says Mr. Wil-
yams, " we had frequent communications with the
enemy. At one time the commander in chief sent
two officers to offer us a supply of vegetables: from
our long cruize on this inhospitable coast, he con-
cluded we must be in want of such refreshments, yet
we had the ingratitude to think that his civility was
only a cover for his curiosity.
" In the course of conversation after dinner, one
of them remarked, that we had made use of unfair
weapons during the late anion, by which, probably,
the admiral's ship l'Urient was burnt, and that Ge-
neral Bonaparte had expressed great indignation at
it. In proof of this assertion he.stated, that in the
Lste gun-boat attacks, thoir camp had twice been
on lire, occasioned by balls of unextinguishable
matter fired from one of the English boats. Capt.
Hallowell instantly ordered the gunner to bring up
some of those balls, and asked him whence he had
them. To the confusion of the accusers, he related
that they were found on board of the Sitartiak,
one of the ships captured' on the Ist of August.
“ As these balls were distinguished by particular
marks, though in.other respects alike, the captain
ordered an experiment to be made, in order to as-
certain the nature of them.
" Tice next morning accompanied Mr. Parr, the
gunner, to the is{and of Aboukir • the first we tried
proved to be a fire-bail, out of what materials eon-
Dosed, w ceald, not ascertain. As it did now ex.