Part of the inhabitants find occupation in the coral fishery ; arid in that of the swordfish and shark during certain seasons of the year. About eighteen or twenty vessels are engaged in the first, each navigated by eight men, who are exclusively Messimse, en accow,t of their superior personal strength and skill, and also from the dangers attending it. They obtain nearly 3000 pounds of coral yearly; but the fishermen consider this a secon dary. employment, and to be followed only when none more profitable occurs. In the capture of the sword fish, from eight to twelve barks, each provided is it ll two boats, are employed. The fishermen use either strong nets or a harpoon, which is so constructed, that, en strik ing the fish, the shaft is disengaged from the non head, while both are retained by a cord 600 feet long. :Much dexterity is practised here ; and the fishermen, who are very superstitious, repeat a Greek sentence, as a charm to attract the fish to their barks. Most of those taken are consumed in Messina, where this fish is favourite food; and some, being salted, is sent in presents to Na ples. The fishery of the shark is not regularly followed, as it resorts, at uncertain periods, to the Straits; and the occupation is attended with danger, from the great voracity of the creature.
The judicial establishments exceed all proportion to the population, which in itself produces many inconve niences ; and the inhabitants arc greatly dissatisfied with the discharge of the duty of their functionaries. There is a senate, consisting of fifteen members, or officers, civil and criminal courts, whose proceedings are subject to appeal in the courts at Palermo, and civil officers su perintending the whole, amounting to no less than 300. It is impossible to obtain a prompt decision, which keeps a number of litigants constantly at law ; and, in conse quence, a great many professional persons find employ ment. Justice is very partially administered, which is the source of great annoyance to the parties ; and the police of the city is bad. A few years ago, an Englishman having been robbed and murdered in the streets, his mer cantile countrymen resident here demanded the punish ment of the offenders, who, after much equivocation and delay, were convicted. Nevertheless, their relatives en deavoured to redeem them from the penalty by bribery ; and it required the most vigorous efforts to obtain their execution. Forty-eight villages are dependent on the city, and governed by the same laws.
Messina is the second city in Sicily, and is at present in a high state of prosperity, notwithstanding the defects of its internal administration. The population of few cities has undergone greater fluctuation within an equal period. During its most flourishing condition, in the course of the preceding century, the inhabitants are sup • posed to have amounted to 100,000 ; successive public calamaties, however, reduced them to 25,000, or 26,000, in 1781. In the year 1798, by an actual enumeration, the population was found to amount to 45,000 souls ; but so rapid has been the increase of late, that it is now com puted at between 80,000 and 90,000. The cause of so unexampled an augmentation, is ascribed to the growing prosperity of the island in general, the extension of com merce, circumstances which have driven many fann lies from agricultural pursuits, and particularly to the presence of the British forces. This is the only place in the island where there are any Jews, as that nation has been proscribed since the year 1492, when they were expelled from the Spanish dominions.
Messina is a place of great antiquity, first known by the name of Zancle, or Zancica, from one of its found ers ; though some etymologists maintain that this is a Gret it word, characteristic of the shape or its harbour, which resembles a sickle. A new colony having come hither from Mycrnc in Greece, it was thenceforward called Messana, an I at a later date was the scene of sanguinary' hostilities between the Romans and Cartha ginians. Since that time it has participated in the ge
neral foitum s of tie island. But in modern history it has been chiefly eelebiated for its misfortunes. When in a very pt osp: rous condition, the plague, introduced by a vessel front the Levant, in 1743, swept away 35,000 souls in the course of a few months; and before having completely recovered front this disaster, the in habitants were visited by another awful calamity. At noon, on the 5th of Feb: nary, 1783, a long thick cloud was seen on the opposite shore of Calabria, which was instantly followed by a hollow subterraneous rolling tin der tile city ; and, amidst a torrent of hail and rain, ac companied by loud peals of thunder, an earthquake shook it to its foundations. The inhabitants fled from their houses to the squares and open places; while a suffocating smell of sulphur escaped from the earth, opening in fissures under their feet. Incessant undula tions continued during several successive hours, when at length a treinendous concussion, at abort 7 of 8 o'clock of the subsequent evening, completed the overthrow of the more solid edifices, which had resisted the feeble shocks preceding it. Numbers of the citizens were overwhelmed by the ruins; many, in the scene of terror and dismay, hurried to the quay to get on hoard of the vessels lying there; sonic sought refuge in the country ; hut others, more intrepid, disregarded their own safety, to rescue their weaker relatives from the walls and rafters which were crashing around them. Ilalf of the whole city was now levelled with the ground ; one quar ter of it renderedruinous; and the remaining portion gi catty damaged. Churches, convents, colleges, and palaces, all had fallen; the palazzata, almost through its entire length, was injured ; houses, fountains, and sta tues were demolished ; and scarcely any, excepting those structures occupying the higher grounds, were spared. To aggravate the public calamity, conflagrations suc ceeding the earthquake, ravaged the city during seven days; and the licentious, availing themselves of the ge neral disorder, pillaged and murdered the defenceless without remorse. Yet amidst such a field of desolation, only 700 or 800 of the inhabitants perished, owing to the survivors having had time to quit their houses before they tumbled, and from so many having been driven to the country by their first apprehensions. Temporary huts and barracks were erected for those preserved ; and the public magazines having been saved, these, along with immediate importations of provisions, alleviated their distresses. But such were their sufferings, that even with the lapse of six years they had not fully re covered from the horror and stupefaction occasioned by the disaster. A long time elapsed before the earth recovered its stability. Above 200 shocks were felt within the two months following; and the city, since that time, has been repeatedly threatened with another convulsion. At present, most of the ruins are removed, and new edifices supply the place of many that were destroyed.
During part of the late war, Messina was the head quarters of the British army, amounting, in the year 1806, to 10,000 men, sent for the protection of Sicily ; and a flotilla lay in the harbour when Murat collected a force on the opposite side of the Straits. The inhabi tants, nevertheless, are 4C:et' Se.C1 of having engaged in a conspiracy with the other islanders, to betray the Bri tish army, which was detected in the year 1812, and many of the ringleaders punished by the setitenee of a military commission, composed partly cif British, and partly of ollicets. East Lung. 15° 40', North Lat. 38° 10'.