Vases from _Metapontum_ also are few and far between; the British Museum possesses a specimen with figures in relief on black ground; and finds are also reported from _Lecce_, _Brindisi_, and _Oria_.[280] Many examples of local fabrics, described in Chapter XVIII., have been found in this district, and specimens are preserved in the museums at Bari, Lecce, and elsewhere. Lastly we have to speak of the finds made at _Locri_ on the east side of the “toe” of Italy, the only important site in that district which has yielded Greek vases. Many of these are white lekythi with figures in outline and polychrome, resembling the well-known Athenian fabrics. They were originally (like those of Gela) thought to be local products, but it is more likely that they were made at Athens and imported, the Locrians having a particular preference for these vases, as the people of Nola had for the slim amphorae. Some of the B.F. and R.F. vases found here are of a very fair order of merit.[281] =Sicily=, so celebrated for its magnificent works of art, has yielded a considerable number of painted vases of all periods. The cities of the southern coast have produced the greatest number, especially Syracuse, Gela (Terranuova), and Agrigentum (Girgenti). Many have also come from the cemeteries of Acrae, Leontini, and Megara Hyblaea. Palermo, Messina, and Catania have produced isolated examples. The richest finds have been in the recently excavated cemeteries of _Syracuse_. The discoveries of early vases and fragments made here by Dr. Orsi are of the utmost importance, and include quantities of specimens of Mycenaean and “Proto-Corinthian” wares.[282] At _Terranuova_ or Gela, one of the earliest settlements of the island, vases with black and with red figures were found as long ago as the eighteenth century,[283] and in 1792 a pottery with furnaces and vases was discovered in the neighbourhood.[284] Of late years vases with black and red figures, some of the latter being of the finest style, have been discovered in large numbers, as well as white lekythi, probably imported from Athens. Of these finds we have already given some description (p. 37). In 1862 Mr. George Dennis found a series of fine R.F. lekythi of the “severe” period, together with B.F. vases and archaic terracottas, now in the British Museum; and these have been fully rivalled by Mr. Arthur Evans’ discoveries in later years. The site has also yielded vases of a primitive character, imitating early Greek wares. Gela was always noted for its potteries, as the ceramic decorations of the Geloan Treasury at Olympia show (p. 100); many of the vases have characteristic Sicilian subjects, and there was undoubtedly a considerable local fabric.