SNOW grotto, an excavation made by the waters on the aide of Mount Etna, by making their way under the layers of lava, and by carrying away the bed of puzzolana below them. It occurred to the proprietor, that this place was very suitable for a magazine of snow ; for Sicily, at Naples, and particularly at Mal ta, they are obliged, for want of ice, to make use of snow for cooling their wine, sherbet, and other liquors, and for mak ing sweetmeats. This grotto was hired or bought by the Knights of Malta, who, having neither ice nor snow on the burn ing rock which they inhabit, have hired several caverns on Etna, in which people, whom they employ, collect and preserve' quantities of snow, to be sent to Malta when needed. This grotto has therefore been repaired within at the expense of that order : flights of steps are cut into it, as well as two openings from above, by which they throw in the snow, and through which the grotto is enlightened. Above the grotto they have also levelled a piece of ground of considerable extent ; this they have inclosed with thick and lofty walls, so that when the winds, which at this elevation blow with great violence, carry the snow from the higher parts of the mountain, and deposit it in this in closure, it is retained and amassed by the walls. The people then remove it into the grotto through the two openings, and it is there laid up, and preserved in such a manner as to resist the force of the sum mer heats; as the layers of lava, with which the grotto is arched above, pre vent them from making any impression.
When the season for exporting the snow comes on, it is put into large bags, in which it is pressed as closely as pos sible; it is then carried by men out of the grotto and laid upon mules, which convey it to the shore, where small ves sels are waiting to carry it away. Vut
before those lumps of snow are put into bags, they are wrapped in fresh leaves ; so that while they are conveyed from the grotto to the shore, the leaves may pre vent the rays of the sun from making any impression upon them. The Sicilians carry on a considerable trade in snow, which affords employment to some thou sands of mules, horses, and men. They have magazines of it on the summits of their loftiest mountains, from which they distribute it through all their cities, towns, and houses ; for every person in the island makes use of snow. They consider the practice of cooling their liquors as absolutely necessary for the preservation of health ; and in a climate, the heat of which is constantly relaxing the fibres, cooling liquors, by communicating a pro per tone to the fibres of the stomach, must greatly strengthen them for the per formance of their functions.
Scow, in naval affairs, a vessel equip ped with two masts, resembling the main and fore-masts of a ship, and a third small mast just abaft the mainmast, carrying a sail nearly similar to a ship's mizen ; the foot of this mast is fixed in a block of wood, upon deck, and the lead is attach. ed to the after part of the main top. The sail is called a try-sail, and hence the mast is termed a try-sail-mast. When sloops of war are rigged as snows, they are furnished with a strong rope, called a horse, instead of the try-sail-mast, the fore part of the sail being attached by rings to it. This is generally the largest of all two-masted vessels employed by Europeans, and is reckoned the moat convenient for navigation. See Falconer's Marine Dictionary.