NOME II. VESICULAR LAVA. 35 1 



as one. The sum of the two circumferences, 

 according to the estimate I have given, would 

 then greatly differ from the measure of Sir Wil- 

 liam Hamilton. Nothing likewise can be more 

 probable, than that among the various changes 

 that have happened to Etna, this partition, by 

 which the great crater is divided into two parts, 

 has been produced. 



" Omitting the observations of Mr. Brydone, 

 that " the tremendous gulf of Etna, so celebrated 

 in all ages, has been looked upon as the terror 

 both of this and another life; that it inspires 

 such awe and horror, that it is not surprising 

 that it has been considered as the place of the 

 damned;" and other similar philosophical re- 

 flections which he has employed ; and confining 

 ourselves to what he actually saw on the 29th 

 of May, 1770, we learn from him that " the 

 crater was then a circle of about three miles and 

 a half in circumference; that it went shelving 

 down on each side, and formed a regular hol- 

 low, like a vast amphitheatre ; and that a great 

 mouth opened near the centre*. 



" From the time of the journey of Sir William 

 Hamilton therefore, to that of the visit of Bry- 

 done, that is to say, within the short space of a 



* Brydone's Tour through Sicily and Malta, vol. i. IQ5, lg<3. 



