NOME II. VESICULAR LAVA. 35*7 



thrown from a sling. The extreme violence of 

 the wind, and the exhaling fumes, prevented 

 him from approaching the upper crater. The 

 lower he found to be formed like an immense 

 pit, and surrounded with a plain of no great 

 extent, which was so hot that he could not bear 

 his hand on it. From its mouth, as from a 

 chimney, continually issued a column of smoke. 



" Of the other crater, which he could not 

 observe himself, he received a description, at 

 Catania, from a monk, who, he assures us, was 

 a man deserving credit, and well acquainted 

 with such subjects. He informed him that this 

 crater was situated on the highest part of the 

 summit of Etna ; that it was about three miles 

 in circumference ; formed like a funnel j and 

 that it had in the middle a spacious cavity. He 

 asserted that he had made the circuit of it, along 

 a kind of narrow ridge ; that from time to time, 

 it threw out stones and burning matters to a 

 considerable height, roaring, and shaking the 

 ground ; but that in the intervals, when it was 

 undisturbed, he had observed it without danger 

 or difficulty. 



<c In the time of Fazello, however, who visited Fazeiio. 

 Etna after Cardinal Bembo, there were no longer 

 two craters, but only one ; the circumference of 



