notion of right conduct and a generosity at times magnanimous. They
held each other in great mutual respect, free from any element of
servility or cowardice, not recognising grades, nor conferring any
right to command--a respect that was the more profound according as
its object was the more distinguished for acts of valour and grandeur
of soul. It was the tacit homage that one pays to heroes, poets,
artists and to every kind of genius.

These men, slowly degenerating, have produced the mafia, which is
associated with bullying, blackmailing and crime. The word mafia has
been applied in this bad sense only in more recent times, as we are
assured by those who have studied the subject. The ancestors of the
mafiosi used to call themselves Cristiani--that is Men in the sense
of men of courage and silence.

The Cristiano carried in one pocket his rosary and in the other his
knife. Outside his own class he recognised the higher social
distinctions and, while preserving his own self-respect and never
stooping to obsequiousness, felt for the galantuomini (that is for
the townspeople) and for the signori (that is for the patricians) a
real submission which he displayed both in acts and words by
protecting their persons and their reputations; so that no thief or
evil-liver dared to commit any crime against one who was known to be
protected by a Cristiano.

One recognises about this something of the chivalry of Robin Hood and of
more modern highwaymen. The conditions of life in the albergheria are
not identical with those of life in the open country, either in England
or in Sicily, nor with those of life in the orange-groves of the Conca
d'Oro round about Palermo. Both in the Conca d'Oro and in the open
fields the guardians employed to protect the crops are all mafiosi and
are able to prevent the employment of any who are not. The conditions in
a sulphur-mine again are different. Confusion arises unless one knows
which conditions are present to the mind of him who is trying to explain
the mafia. Besides which, the words mafia and mafioso are still often
used in a good sense.

There was something mafioso about Michelino when he was singing to us at
the mine, keeping us all in order and silencing the guitar with a wave of
his hand. There is something of it in a girl who is not ashamed of her
beauty and does not blush to be admired. It