356 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



though he was not himself an ocular witness, 

 but relied on the information of others, who had 

 visited Etna, and from whom he received the 

 account, c That the summit was a level plain of 

 about twenty stadia in circumference, surround- 

 ed by a brow or ridge, of the height of a wall ; 

 and that in the middle of the plain arose a smoky 

 hill, the smoke of which ascended in a direct 

 line, to the height of two hundred feet/ If we 

 consider this description as accurate, the crater 

 of Etna was at that time surrounded by a brow 

 or ridge, which I should explain as the sides or 

 edges; and in the lower part, was separated by 

 a mount rising in the middle** The same geo- 

 grapher relates, that two men having ventured to 

 descend upon the plain, were obliged immediate- 

 ly to return, from the violence of the heat. 



" Solinus tells us that there were two craters 

 from which the vapours issuedf. 



" Cardinal Bembo likewise found two craters 

 on the summit, the one higher than the other, 

 and about as far distant as a stone might be 



* " This observation agrees with that of D'Orville, mentioned 

 above. I find likewise that similar mounts have sometimes been 

 thrown up within the crater of Vesuvius. See De Bottis Istoria di 

 yarii incendii del Fesuvio." 



f " In Etnoe vertice hiatus duo sunt, crateres nominati, per quo* 

 eructatus erumpit vapor. Cap. xi. 



