Even the clergy became infected through the contagious example of their temporal rulers; the amiable vices so reprobated by the Holy Father were scarcely concealed by the inferior ecclesiastics, while the episcopal palaces of the larger cities exhibited scenes more appropriate to the secret precincts of a Moorish harem than to the homes of the most exalted dignitaries of the Sicilian Church. During the Saracen occupation of Sicily the country was probably more thickly populated and was certainly subject to a more thorough system of tillage than it had been while under the control of any other nation. It contained eighteen cities and hundreds of towns, villages, and hamlets. In all there were more than a thousand centres of population throughout the island, which did not include the smaller settlements. The tireless industry of the Moor developed to the highest degree its wonderful natural resources. Almost every grain and fruit known to the agriculturist flourished on the slopes of the gentle eminences which lined its coast or in the fertile depths of the sheltered valleys. Its mountain sides were covered with forests of chestnut, pine, and cedar, invaluable for ship-building purposes. The papyrus, identical with the famous plant of Egypt, and found nowhere else in Europe, grew wild in its marshes. The level lands of the South were occupied by endless groves of palms and oranges. Cotton, sugar-cane, and flax were cultivated with great success. Olives constituted one of the staple crops of the country. The culture of silk was introduced into Sicily some years before it became known to the Moors of Spain, and extensive plantations of mulberries were maintained for the sustenance of that useful insect whose industry, in every country propitious to its growth, has been forced to contribute to the luxury and vanity of man. The products of the Sicilian wine-press were famous among the bacchanalian poets of the court of Palermo, who had long since forgotten the prohibitory mandate of the Prophet. The most improved methods of cultivation, tested by the experience of ages, were adopted to aid the fertility of the soil and the mildness of the climate. The irrigating system in use was modelled after those of Persia and Egypt. The supply of water seems to have been abundant and of the purest quality, but, through the ignorance of succeeding generations, which destroyed the forests, extensive tracts, once verdant as a garden and traversed by navigable streams, have been changed into arid plains barren of all vegetation and seamed with dry and rocky ravines.