“The Committee of Industrial Inquiry, during its recent sessions at Palermo, Messina, and Catania, has collected valuable information upon the general conditions of the island, and upon its principal articles of commerce.
“We will begin with the chief branch, sulphur, whose exportation in the raw state during the last decade is shown by these figures:
In 1862, = 1,433,000 quintals = 250,775,000 Eng. lbs. avoir., or 125,387 tons of 2000 lbs.
| “ | 1863, | = | 1,470,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1864, | = | 1,398,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1865, | = | 1,382,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1866, | = | 1,791,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1867, | = | 1,923,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1868, | = | 1,723,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1869, | = | 1,701,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1870, | = | 1,727,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1871, | = | 1,712,000 | ” | |
| “ | 1872, | = | 1,969,000 | “ | (estimated). |
“Sicily may be considered the monopolist of the trade in natural sulphur. Other solfataras exist in Croatia, Gallicia, and Poland; at Vaucluse in France, at Murcia in Spain, and in Egypt on the Red Sea;[206] but the production may be considered unimportant. Even the Zolfare of the Romagna cannot be compared with those of Sicily, as we see by the following figures of exportation:
| In | 1862, | = | 22,057 | quintals. |
| “ | 1863, | = | 57,275 | ” |
| ” | 1864, | = | 35,524 | ” |
| ” | 1865, | = | 70,841 | ” |
| ” | 1866, | = | 4,351 | ” |
| ” | 1867, | = | 2,722 | ” |
| ” | 1868, | = | 8,846 | ” |
| ” | 1869, | = | 3,885 | ” |
| ” | 1870, | = | 15,659 | ” |
| ” | 1871, | = | 12,320[207] | ” |
“The annual production of the Romagna mines reaches only 120,000 quintals, including the less important diggings of Latera Scrofaro, Volterra, Grosseto, and Avellino. Sulphurous earth covers all the Sicilian provinces of Caltanissetta (Kal’ at el Nisá, the fort of women) and Girgenti,[208] and a part of Catania; whilst there are two isolated ridges (lembi) at Lercara de’ Freddi of Palermo, and at Ghibellina of Trapani. Those actually worked exceed 550.
“Experts greatly differ in opinion concerning the supply still remaining for exportation; we have determined that the diggings at the actual rate of exportation may last another hundred years.[209]
“Mining property, according to Sicilian law, belongs to the soil; and public opinion, as well as vested interests, would strenuously oppose the legislation which prevails in upper Italy. Yet the present conditions are highly unsatisfactory. Working upon a small scale in fractionary estates has diminished profits, and in many cases has caused mines to be abandoned. And the evil is ever increasing with the greater depths of the diggings where the inflow of water offers fresh difficulties. The only remedy would be the combination of small farmers, and the massing of the less important diggings under a single ‘cultivator.’