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June 19, 1885.] THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. 397 of shops on either side ; these shops are merely square dens, just large enough tor the proprietor to sit in cross-legged, or to lie down with Iris head over the doorstep ; the customer stands out side in the street. The most lively sight in Tangier is the “ Soko ” or market place, a large piece of ground above the town. Here on Sundays and Thursdays may be seen hundreds of people, many of them living in tents, also numbers of camels and other animals. I took some instantaneous views of the “Soko,” but the Moor is an aggravating individual, and, except collectively, he strongly objects to be photographed. You have to be rapid in your arrangements, or, by the time you are ready, your subjects have quietly decamped. Their religion forbids picture-making, and the Moor has an erroneous idea that Ross’s rapid symmetrical lens is an evil eve, that will cause his death within a year of the time it has looked upon him. An instantaneous shutter with a pneumatic ball and tube is most useful, for you can then stand inadvertently with your hands behind your back, gazing vacantly about, and when your victim unwittingly crosses your path, a squeeze of the ball and you have him ; and as he does not see the manoeuvre, he probably survives the coming year. Seeing a picturesque well, with many coming to draw and to conyerse, I pointed my camera at it ; but though I loitered round for half an hour, the wary Moor came not nigh, neither did his wife nor child consent to fill their vessels theieat. The next subject was a crowded well on the sea-shore ; but the careful Moor, valuing his life more than water, skidaddled instanter, and only one or two, who possibly did not observe their imminent danger, were left. In spite of the Moor, however, I obtained many good pictures, comprising distant views of Tangier, photographs of the “ Soko,” street views, &c. The picture of the Court of Justice is interest ing. The Governor sits under the arched front of a room open to the outer air ; the lawyers and others are outside. A couple are coming to have a dispute settled ; this Court was sitting at 9 a.m., and we left it still going on at half-past five in the evening. The Governor reclines upon a couch between each case. A short paper of this nature only permits of a mere notice of the photographic work at the various places, and we must hurry on. Leaving Gibraltar by the magnilicentP. andO.S.S. Carthage, in a little more than three days we landed in Malta; but as it was dark and as the Carthage left at 2 a.m., I could not obtain a photo of her. Valetta is the hottest, sunniest place I was ever in. the homes and roads are white and there are no trees; the atmosphere is very clear, and during our short stay of two days I obtained some excellent harbour and street views. I was very anxious to visit and photograph the interior in St. John’s Church. In the wall Mall Photographic exhibition last year, a medal was awarded for a photograph of this interior, the lines of which were not upright. I wished to see if there was any difficulty in obtaining straight lines. On the afternoon of my departure I turned in to look, and was told by the custodian that 1 could not photograph it that day. Upon this information I went tc my hotel, and coming back with my camera, proceeded to set it up. The custodian gave me some more advice in a foreign tongue, which evidently meant that I must shut up; he, however, under stood a sixpence, and signified that ten minutes must be the limit. The church hi. a good interior for photography, and is well lighted, and I fail to see why a medal should be awarded, especially when the lines are out of the perpendicular. Leaving Malta at G p.m. by a dirty little Italian steamer, the charge for which was as great as the unpleasantness experienced on board, we landed at Catania at about three the next afternoon. Catania is a fine large city, with one street at least that equals any of those of our English cities. The Strada Etna is perfectly straight, and more than a mile in length ; and as you gaze up it, the towering form of snow-clad Etna (whose summit is thirty miles away) fills up the vista. The street gradually slants up, as Catania is built on one of the slopes of Etna, and has been over whelmed, to a great extent, six times. There are many interest ing subjects for photography in and about the city. The public washing-trough with the two rivers running through, and 150 ■women and girls washing all the day, is one of the most novel 1 have ever seen. The many beautiful colours of the clothes, the picturesque, sunburnt women, and the splendid sunlight, combine to make a picture that is feebly pourtrayed by photography. One of the swiftest of steeds, and one of the smallest of carriages, conveyed us through the streets, and wherever we came upon a good subject, it was rapidly taken, and we rushed on. I he workhouse, with its inmates quietly basking outside in the warm sun the antique aqueduct, and the groups at the fountains, were among our captures. Much difficulty was experienced at the fountains through well-meaning officious idiots endeavouring to clear the people off, that we might have a good view of the fountain. Not understanding the language, we had to resort to stratagem, and, by turning the camera in the opposite direction, and then suddenly wheeling it round, we caught our group. From Catania, we took train along the coast for Taormina, desciibed to us by many as the most beautiful place in Europe ; and truly I think they are right. The old town lies about 300 feet above the level of the sea, and we ascended the long zig zag road <>n a bright moonlight night, Etna standing out like frosted silver. The most celebrated view is that obtained from the top of the Greek Theatre, but the colours are so beautiful that a photograph can never do it justice. In the foieground is the grand old theatre of brilliant red bricks and white marble pillars. We look down over the quaint motley town, and Etna forms a noble background; to the left, far below, is the lovely blue of the Mediterranean. Finding we had at last reached perfection in air and landscape, we stayed a week, and were loth to leave at the end of it. Taormina abounds in fascinations for sketchers and photographers. One old Dominican Convent has three cloisters adjoining, and in the third I spent many hours with the camera and the brush. The street scenes are very lively, as the people live mostly out of doors, the women and girls generally spinning, and varying their em ployment by a peculiar species of hunting, as shown in one group ; the young man is home for dinner hour, and he lays his head in the lap of the girl he loves best, while it undergoes a careful ex amination at her hands. Small-tooth combs are a great article of commerce in Sicily. Would that soap were as much appreciated. While at, Taormina, we visited the small town of Mola, situate on a rock 2,000 feet above the sea ; the only entrance is through a narrow arch at the top of a flight of steps ; the views from Mola, and during the ascent, are very fine. The people were much interested in oar movements, and liked to look on the ground glass ; in such a case it is better to hold the cloth high, so that it may not hurt a hair of one of them. I took a photo graph of a dog at the hotel at Taormina, which its owner described as “ unique,” and 1 cannot describe it by a better word ; it was an immense beast, and looked like a cross between a poodle and a Newfoundland. This photograph was the only one out of my 236 which was developed before reaching home. I took the photograph to Signor Bruno, a photographer of Taormina, and stayed while he developed it; we could not understand each other in the least. He was such a careful man, and taxed my patience to the utmost. By my watch he took a quarter of an-hour to make ready his dish s, developer, &c. ; to mix the latter his wife brought in a charcoal stove, and held the bottle in the embers. I gallantly came to the rescue here, feeling like Alfred with the cakes. Meanwhile Signor Bruna lit the lamp, and then vanished with the developer, &c., into a small tent, where he stayed another quarter of an-hour; there was no ventilation, and it is no wonder the poor man looks ill. You can imagine the want of air in that tent when he emerged. A great conversation was now carried on by tongue, hands, shoulders, &c. When I tried to make him understand that Herr Grand mont would order prints from him afterI had left Taormina, he seemed to take it all in. We shook hands, and I departed, feeling that I had done great things; but imagine my sensations when at dinner our landlord came in, aud whispered to Herr Grandmont, who in his broken English said to me, “ The photo grapher is here, and he understands not one word of what you sail to him this morning! ” Taking train to Messina, and tarrying there an hour or two, we took ship and came to Palermo. I had taken photographs of Messina last year, and this time I merely got the view from St. Gregorio, and a view in the harbour. The sun and we rose as we entered the beautiful harbour of Palermo. Early breakfast, and a boat ashore, a horse and trap, and in an hour and a-half we were at St. Maria de Jesu, where a celebrated view of Monte Pelegrino and Palermo is to be obtained. The wind being high, and the Cypress trees being also high and waving, 1 was obliged to take this view instantaneously, and the foreground is black, whereas a Sicilian foreground is not. From there a long drive up the hills brought us to the town of Monreale. All pilgrims to Pale mo visit Monreale, for its grand cathedral and world-renowned cloisters ; the latter are of immense size and beauty, every pair of pillars being different, and many of them being a mass of mosaic. Four good negatives of the cloister, and one of the interior of the Cathedral, were taken. The neighbourhood of Palermo being somewhat infested by
