a city in the island of Sicily, the chief of the intendency and district of the same name. It is one of the oldest cities of Europe, though, from its situation under Mount Ætna, exposed to the tremendous operations of nature, by which it has been several times visited. It is now a large and well-built city. The streets are broad, straight, and well paved with lava. The market-place or square is spacious, and surrounded with magnificent buildings. There is a well-conducted university, two colleges, a museum, a cabinet of natural history, and several appropriate institutions for instruction. The environs, except Catania where buried by the lava of 1669, are fertile and well cultivated. It contains a population of 45,000, but, including Catapults the suburbs, of 74,000 persons. These find employment in various manufactures, particularly in those of linen and of silk. There is also an export trade in corn, wine, soda, nuts, hemp, flax, liquorice, and fruits. There is no harbour, and merely a roadstead, but boats discharge their cargoes at a mole. It is 120 miles from Palermo. Long. 15. 5. 15. E. Lat. 37. 28. 20. N.

of the intendantcies into which the island of Sicily is divided, and which comprehends the valleys of Demona and Mazza, and the whole Mount of Ætna. It is bounded on the north by Messina, on the east by the sea, on the south by Seragossa, on the west by Calatanissetta, and on the north-west by Palermo. It is divided into the three districts of Catania, Caltagerone, and Nicosia, and contains 289,406 inhabitants.