3 Defcriptlon of the Volcano 



begins at the diftance of little inojre than half a mile from 

 the town. But however ftrong this fmell may be, it feems 

 not to be prejudicial, for the inhabitants in the neighbour- 

 hood enjoy the beft health and attain to a confiderable age, 

 Though this diftricl: is mountainous and expofed to inunda- 

 tions, it is very fruitful : its fugar canes produce the richeft 

 fuo-ar, as the diflri&s around Etna and Vefuvius produce the 

 moft celebrated wine. The nearer you approach the crater, 

 the more numerous you find the volcanic productions. You 

 pafs over various rivulets, the water' of which has a fulphu- 

 reous fmell, and thefcum feems to contain faline and ochery 

 matter. You foon after arrive at the fide of the mountain 

 which rifes over the volcano towards the fouth-weft. The 

 road lies acrofs the declivity of the mountain, which is ex- 

 ceedingly fleep ; fo that the traveller on one fide fees a ter- 

 rible, almoft perpendicular, abyfs filled with abundance ot 

 vapour from boiling water by which he is furrounded, and 

 as it were enveloped: on the other fide he is enclofed by a 

 high fteep rock, yet one can ride without danger to that part 

 of the mountain which cnclofes the volcano on the eaft fide ; 

 but when you arrive there, you muft procure a guide, and 

 defcend the mountain, by a very fleep path, between low 

 thick bruih-wood. Throughout the whole way you muft 

 beat on both fides with a flick, in order to guard againft 

 beino- bit by makes. Scarcely have you reached the bottom 

 of the mountain when you find the heat of the atmofphere 

 confiderably increafed, and the earth hot under the feet. The 

 Sulphureous vapours which here fuvround the body foon oc- 

 tafion an abundant perfpiration, and the fulphurifed hydro- 

 genous fmell is fo powerful as to oblige many perfons to re- 

 turn. 1 he valley which cnclofes the volcano is about fixty 

 fathoms long, fifty broad, and lies fixty fathoms higher than 

 the level of the fea. It appears as if the volcano had long 

 a<ro formed the hollow, in which it is fituated, by fplitling 

 the mountain that furrounds the cavity, and by its eruption 

 caftimr to a diftance on one fide thofe parts which covered 



the 



