anciently called Thermae Selinuntiae, in Sicily, derives its present denomination from the Arabic word Scheich. It is a very ancient place, being mentioned in the account of the wars between the Greeks and Carthagrians, to the latter of whom it belonged. It is defended by ancient walls and the castle of Luna. It stands upon a very steep rock, hanging over the sea, and excavated in every direction into prodigious magazines, where the corn of the neighbouring territory is deposited for exportation; there is no harbour, but a small bay formed by a wooden pier, where lighters lie to load the corn which they carry out about a mile to ships to anchor.

The town is irregularly but substantially built, and contains 13,000 inhabitants, though Amico's Lexicon Scienza Topographicum says the last enumeration found only 9484. His accounts do not take in ecclesiastics, and several denominations of lay persons.