sary to handle the prickly pear with extreme care,
lest the infinitesimal prickles should get into the hand, the saliva of
the camel being almost the only thing that will effectually remove them
from the flesh. The fruit is dislodged from the plant by means of a
knife or cloven stick; then, when a deep gash is made from top to
bottom, and another across, the luscious, ice-cold, crimson fruit is
ready to be extracted. The taste is a pleasant sweet acid.

Having thus refreshed myself with a few deliciously cool mouthfuls, I
proceeded on my way. Right ahead of me, perched upon the rocky heights
and facing a fine range of mountains, was the ancient Cathedral of
Monreale. It overlooked a broad and fruitful valley literally covered
with orange, lemon, and olive plantations, their tints contrasting
bright and sombre, and their wealth of fragrant blossoms filling the air
with perfume; far away to the left, and parallel to the road by which I
had come, stretched the rich, verdant vegetation, through the bluff
headlands to the blue sea beyond, where Palermo glittered in the sun,
like a queen in her splendour. No wonder she was named of poets, "Concho
d'Oro," the Golden Shell! I lingered for some time, perfectly fascinated
by the beauty of the scene.

Passing through the crowded little town of Monreale--probably a city in
the times of the Greeks and Romans--I gained the piazza where the
beautiful Cathedral, with Benedictine Abbey attached, was situated. I
had expected a Cathedral here as a matter of course, for no Italian
town, however small, is without one, but I was scarcely prepared to find
it so large and so beautiful. It was founded in 1174, by William II.,
surnamed the Good; the front is enriched by two bronze doors by Bounanno
of Pisa, and is further ornamented with mosaics and arabesques.

On entering, I was filled with admiration. The magnificent edifice,
which is some 315 feet in length, is divided into three aisles by
pillars of granite and different-coloured marbles; the pavement of
tessellated marble; and the whole of the ceilings and walls, down to the
very capitals of the Corinthian columns, a grand series of beautiful
mosaics representing Scriptural subjects, separated by, and intermixed
with gold and parti-coloured arabesques. Over the altar, a colossal
figure of Christ in blue and gold mosaic. When the sunlight streamed
through the windows, these beautiful arabesques looked like the finest
silk tapestries, and