8 Ascent of Mt. Etna, February, 1832. 



might almost fancy the heavens nearer than the earth, and wish to 

 start from such vantage ground, on his flight to another world. Si- 

 cily was reduced to a map which we could study far beneath us. 

 Almost under our feet, lay Catania and the villages which sprinkled 

 the mountain's base. Farther off to the south, Augusta and Magne- 

 sia jutted out into the sea, and beyond were distinctly seen Ortygia and 

 Plemmyriam, and the black specks in the beautiful round basin of Sy- 

 racuse, we knew to be the ships of our squadron. The eye wander- 

 ed on to Cape Passaro, and following the course of Eneas fleet by 

 the Geloan fields and Agrigentum, rested on the blue sea beyond 

 Lilybeum and Mt. Eryx. A prominent hill indicated the site of Paler- 

 mo, and the castellated rocks embosoming the beautiful vale of Enna, 

 were conspicuous near the center of the island, and are now known 

 by the name of Castro Giovanni. From there to the fountain Cy- 

 ane it looked like a short distance, and must have seemed so to Pro- 

 serpine, as the last flower fell from her bosom and she sunk from so 

 bright a world to the dark realms of her uncourteous lover. 



The mountains of Sicily are high and many of them were covered 

 with snow ; yet seen from Etna, they dwindle into hillocks, and with 

 their intervening vallies give the country the appearance of gentle un- 

 dulations and picturesque beauty, rather than the grandeur which char- 

 acterizes most of its scenery from below. Two rivers wind slug- 

 gishly through the low meadows around the base of Mongibello, and 

 it rises as if from the sea, prominent and well defined in its whole 

 magnitude, and therefore more conspicuous and imposing than moun- 

 tains of much greater elevation. To the, north lay a lake, which with 

 the village near it, our guide named Randazzo. We looked in vain 

 for the Lipari islands, the only place in which our view was inter- 

 cepted by clouds. Messina lies behind and at the base of an am- 

 phitheatre of hills, among which Mt. Chalcidice is between three and 

 four thousand feet high, so that from Etna, Sicily appears, as tradition 

 represents it to have been, joined on to Italy, and the snow-capped 

 mountains of Calabria, seemed near and distinct enough to acknowl- 

 edge the sway of the monarch of Trinacria, at least to tremble at 

 the fearful demonstrations of his power. 



Unfortunately we had left behind, our ship telescope, and the small 

 one which was politely loaned us by Signor Gemmellaro, would hard- 

 ly compensate for longer stay in the freezing air and burning cinders 

 of the " Sommo Cratere." Our guide had animated us in our toil- 

 some ascent, by speeches, high sounding enough for a Hannibal or a 



