DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



those in which the Grotta delle Capre is hol- 

 lowed. 



" We had arrived at within about four miles 

 of the borders of the great crater, when the 

 dawn of day began to disperse the darkness of 

 night. Faint gleams of a whitish light were 

 succeeded by the ruddy hues of Aurora; and 

 soon after the sun rose above the horizon, turbid 

 at first and dimmed by mists, but his rays insen- 

 sibly became more clear and resplendent. These 

 gradations of the rising day are no where to be 

 viewed with such precision and delight as from 

 the lofty height we had reached, which was not 

 far from the most elevated point of Etna. Here 

 likewise I began to perceive the effects of the 

 eruption of Etna, which took place in July 1?87> 

 and which has been so accurately described by 

 Drosses, the Chevalier Gioeni*. These were visible in a 

 coating of black scoriae, at first thin, but which 

 became gradually thicker as I approached the 

 summit of the mountain, till it composed a stra- 

 tum of several palms in thickness. Over these 

 scoriae I was obliged to proceed, not without 

 considerable difficulty and fatigue, as my leg at 



* " His account of this eruption was printed at Catania, in 1787? 

 There is likewise a French translation at the end of the Catalogue 

 Raisonnt of M. Dolomieu." An English translation of this singu- 

 lar account is afterwards here given. 



