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JONE, 1907.1 THE TRAVELS OF RICHARD BELL (AND JOHN CAMPBELL).
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y herbe weh if a man eate he dies laffinge.77 On y day June, we weere becalmd amonge yo burninge [Lipari] Islelaads for 2 dayes. They are callod, I Strambelo (Stromboli] 2 Vulcan [Valcano], 3rd Valoanello. We, yo 80r1] day, had a fresh gailo, weh past vs botwixt yo poynts of Silla and Charibd[is], the one On y Isleland of Scicillia, thother On y Callabria, yo Popes Controy. And, in two howers after, Moored of ships before Mossens, & had prattick7 in 9 howers after.
This Messena is yo 24 Citty in yo greate Isleland of Scicillis. At y tyme of of being theire, came 16 Gallies of yo popes & Maltezes, & 8 days after caime 14 Gallys of yo ffrench; all weighed, & weere for the releife of Candia.70
Messena hath yo farest mould [Mole] of anie place in X.piandome, and its most of it naturall, The Key, cald y. Marreene (Marina), is a very faire one, & On it, for neare a mile, stately howses, all vniforme, faceing ye Sea, weh it bounds, soe as yo may step of ye key into a ship of 300 Tung, theire being water to make bir swim wth hir full Ladeing. Seuerall faire Castles, Convents, Monasterries & Churches are in it. As also faire Conduits & beautifull streets.
The Mannfacter is silke, y greatest quantity made wth in 4 or 5 Miles about y Towne woh I se drawne from yo Cod [Oucoon] into skeynes, woh is an art verry Curious to ynderstand ye well doeing of it.
From Messens wth Mr John Morgan, Me James Stannier & Capt. Bates, we imbarked in affelukeso wo wo hyred to Carrio vs to y Citty of Cattania Catania], 25 Leagues by Sea from Messena.
In or way we see Regium [Reggio, in Italy] yo plat St Paull preched at, on y Callabr[ija side, & si Paulls piller errected in memory of him. We past 3 leagues furthur on y Callabra cost, weh is yo popes Contrey, well peopled, & good buildings & fruitfull, tho verry Mountanous. We after boarded to yo Scicillian coat, on woh are seuerall small Castles fronting yo Sea, & soe are theire on yo Callabria, all to pvent ye landing of ye Turke, woh vex often those pts & stealo away yo xpians, Tho Hilly, yet vecry fru.tfall for Ollives & corne.
In yo morninge & Erenings we see troopes of Weomen, Girls & boyes decend the hills, woh are vervy steepe, to fetch water, wob they beare on theire heads in earthen pitchers from ye springs at y foote of yo steepe hills; theire habbit verry meate.
Arriveinge at Cattanis, yo 34 Cheife Citty of Scicillia, we vewed the towne, left almost empty of inhabbitants by reason of yo Eruption of Mount Etna als Mongebell [alias Monte Bella ),81 wch Sharrie or Mettell [Scoria or liva] ch it rommitts as a streame from a river in many Channells, hath run downe yo wall of ye Citty in Seuerall places, & run downo about 30 dwelling howses in yt Citty, 4 or 5 churches, 2 or 3 Monasterries and Nanaries; & surrounded the Citty on 3 parts & a largo Castlo wth out y' walls, raiseinge it selfe in some places abouy. Surface of yo earth 10, 20 and 30 yis hight ; yo breith in some places 7 Engl miles at Cattania (woh lies on yo Sea 2 Miles), & its Channells when I (was) theira led into yo sea 2 Miles
TT The author is apparently referring to the Cannabis sativa, hemp plant, which Campbell would know in India as Bhaag.
18 Pratiqne - Permission granted to a ship to enter a port.
1 Candia was besiego 1 by the Turks in 1567, and, after a most herofo defonce by the Venetians, who lost 30,000 killed and wounded, was forced to surrender in 1339.
Palarca.. wall vessel, used chiefly in the Mediterranean for coasting voyagen. 81 Compare Lithgow, Painefull Peregrinations, p. 390,"Ætna, called now Monte Bello or Gibollo, signifying faire Mountayne." The eruption of Etun in 1639 is the most violent on record. Twenty-thousand persons aro aaid to have perished.
