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PAIiMEMO » -A&DAM© AND SE&ES'TE. 319
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
^ ^ Alx The First Days Of The Month Of A...
At almost the highest point of tlie ridge we passed near a "Villa which had been destroyed by fire—burnt in 1860 _loy the peasants ,
as was almost every house belonging * either to the Bourbons or belonging their supporters 1 to the , king and himself this had , and been is now a favourite , from its shooting lonely situ -box
ation , a place of refuge for the runaway conscripts—and a few just hours below after this we passed house , in there ¦¦ which was , several an engagement of the latter with were the soldiers killed
and only one of the runaways , taken prisoner . , For the unfortunate soldiers sent after these men it is the most
unequal warfare , as the runaways are perfectly acquainted with the countryand ick off their assailants from behind the rocks , with
little or , no risk p of being taken , as they can retreat to hiding-j ) lace _& almost impossible to discover . . But we will continue our journey
and talk politics another time ; at this moment we are more occuied with the delight of finding the fragrant red-purple cyclamen
p growing plentifully amongst the rocks , and with the sight of the sea in the distance , bounding the ravine -which we are just
entering . Just now , too , we see some weary solcliers before us on their to Partenico—and very hot and dusty they are- —so we each
way seize an orange from our basket to throw at them as we pass . It is quite refreshing to see the poor fellows brighten up as they find
themselves hard hit by such a friendly missile . The first basket emptiedand the first hatch of soldiers passedwe discover still
nine mor , e ahead , and hastily pull out a second , basket , where exactlnine oranges are found—ready for the occasionwithout a
doubt y : certainly the tMrsty soldiers are of this op _^ inion . A lendid drive through this gorge brings us out above the plain
of sp Partenico , beyond which we see the hill of Alcamo , and farther still Mount Eryx , rising above the town of Trapani . We pass
through the village of Borghetto and descend to Partenico , by a road shaded with olive trees , with orange groves stretching
downwards to the plain . Partenico is a most uninviting place , like all the villages in
Sicily ; dirty , decayed , and ugly ; so we left the carriage while the horses were resting , and walked on to find some shady place
outside the town where we might eat our lunch . After rather a weary toil through the village , which proved much longer than we
had expected ; we got into a garden under some trees , and sat down . Of course everyone in the village walked with us , and one
huge man who had accompanied us from the carnage , and looked _, so strong and stout that he could with ease have carried us all on
his shoulders , sank down in a chair outside a house , half way through the town , and with a great sig'h and a twinkle in his eye ,
looked full at us , and said " Grazia a Dio , IO son arrivato . " Pie evidently thought we were mad to go so far on foot , and if we had
stopped a little short of this unheard-of half mile , he would have
Paiimemo » -A&Dam© And Se&Es'te. 319
_PAIiMEMO » -A _& DAM © AND _SE & ES ' TE . 319
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1863, page 319, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071863/page/31/
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