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PALERMO PALES 821 in 1640 by the Dominicans, and built in the Eoman Doric style, divided into three aisles by 16 large columns of gray marble, and accom- modating nearly 12,000 persons. The church serves also as a Pantheon (Santa Croce), and has many monuments of distinguished Sicil- ians. The church of Mortorana or Santa Ma- ria dell' Amiraglio, popularly called San Si- mone, is one of the earliest Norman edifices in Sicily, of the 12th century. The exterior has been modernized, but the interior retains some of the original mosaics. The church of San Giuseppe de' Tiatini, begun in 1612 and completed in 1645, is of composite architecture and supported by 26 massive columns in the nave and aisle. Santa Maria della Catena, or Parrochia della Kalsa, dates from the 14th cen- tury, excepting the Y. front, remarkable for a strikingly picturesque portico, which was re- built about 200 years later. It contains many chapels and many sepulchral monuments. The private chapel of the royal palace, built by Roger, first king of Sicily, in the form of a basilica, although small, has all the character- istics of a large church. Almost the whole of the walls and dome is covered with mosaic pictures on a gold ground. Palermo is the see of an archbishop. It was formerly noted for the number of its monasteries and nunneries, but these were suppressed in 1867. Among them were La Gancia (S. Maria degli Angioli), formerly the most extensive and renowned, and the Capuchin monastery outside the city, with celebrated subterranean vaults, where the standing bodies of the dead present a ghastly spectacle. An ancient subterranean cemetery (Le catacombe) was discovered in 1785 outside the gate of Ossuna. The teatro Belloni, re- built in 1803, is the largest and most fashion- able theatre, and there are five others. The festival of Santa Rosalia is celebrated July 1 1- 15 by fireworks, the procession of the saint's car, and illuminations in La Flora, the princi- pal public park and a familiar lounge, at the S. end of the Marina. The university of Pa- lermo, founded in 1447, has a valuable collec- tion of antiquities and a library of 40,000 vol- umes. In 1873 there were 56 professors and 306 students. There are also an academy of sciences, a nautical school, a museum with large art collections, a conservatory of music, a botanic garden, and many other institutions for the promotion of learning, including an ob- servatory about 250 ft. high (in the royal pal- ace), celebrated through the discoveries of Pi- azzi and other astronomers, and possessing re- nowned astronomical instruments. The pub- lic charities embrace several hospitals, a found- ling institution, and a lunatic asylum. The city has a supreme court of justice, a court of appeal, and a commercial tribunal. The chief manufacture is silk; cotton, oil cloth, gold and silver articles, and hardware are also produced. The total value of exports for the year ending Sept. 30, 1873, was $9,078,090, of which $4,- 125,250 were for oranges, lemons, and other fruits ; of the exports, $2,327,492 were to the United States. The value of the imports was $4,254,260. The tunny fishery carried on from the town is very productive. N. W. of the city is the Monte Pellegrino, an abrupt rocky mass, famed for a cave or grotto to which St. Rosalia, a Norman princess, retired to lead a contempla- tive life ; it is now a sanctuary, and an annual pilgrimage is made to it from Palermo in sol- emn procession on July 15. Palermo was the earliest settlement of the Phoenicians in Sicily, and became the chief seat of their power there. It was by the Greeks called Panormus, a name derived from the excellence of the anchorage near it. In 480 B. C. the city was taken by the Carthaginians, who kept possession of it till 276, when it was captured by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus ; but it was soon retaken by the Car- thaginians. It was taken by the Romans in the first Punic war, 254 B. C., and was a col- ony throughout the continuance of the empire. It fell into the hands of the Goths, was wrested from them by the Byzantine general Belisarius, and in A. D. 835 was taken by the Saracens ; it was by them made the capital of the island, and retained the same dignity under the Nor- man kings, who in the llth century drove out the infidels, and in the 12th founded the king- dom of Sicily. The court resided at Palermo until Sicily was united to the kingdom of Na- ples. The city has suffered much from earth- quakes. During the insurrection of 1848 it was bombarded by the royal troops. Garibal- di, having landed in Sicily May 13, 1860, en- tered Palermo on the 26th, conquering it after a protracted fight in the streets ; and by con- vention the Neapolitan army evacuated the city on June 6, when it became the seat of the pro- visional government. An insurrection against the abolition of the monastic orders broke out in September, 1866, but was suppressed by the royal troops after much bloodshed. PALES, in Roman mythology, the tutelary de- ity of flocks and shepherds, holding nearly the same place in the religious worship of Rome that Pan held among the Greeks, and repre- sented by some writers as a male and by oth- ers as a female. The festival of Pales, called Palilia,, was celebrated on April 21, the anni- versary of the foundation of Rome by Romulus. The principal rites were the purification of the stables, flocks, and herds by fire and smoke, and the offering of cakes, millet, and milk, fol- lowed by prolonged jollity and feasting. END OF VOLUME TWELFTH.