IP 



350 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



must be torn up and broken away, and the sum- 

 mit of the volcano fall and be lost in the gulf. 



" These dilapidations have not, however, from 

 time immemorial, produced any sensible dimi- 

 nution of the height of the summit of Etna ; 

 since the losses occasioned by some eruptions 

 are repaired by others which follow. This may 

 be inferred from a phenomenon usually insepa- 

 rable from the summit of Etna, though, by rare 

 accident, not observable at the time of my jour- 

 ney ; I mean the ice and snow with which it is 

 covered. Had any considerable decrease of the 

 height of the mountain taken place, in conse- 

 quence of the summit repeatedly falling in, in 

 ice and snow, former ages, the ice and snow would not cer- 

 tainly, in a climate so mild, have continued to 

 envelop the top of the mountain as they now do, 

 even during the heats of summer. But this con- 

 tinual residence of the snow and ice on Etna 

 has been celebrated by all antiquity; for near 

 observation was not necessary to ascertain this 

 phenomenon, since it is distinctly apparent at 

 the distance of a hundred miles. Adscendit ea 

 regio (says Fazello, speaking of the upper region 

 of Etna) passuum milliafere xii; qutfper hyemem 

 iota nimbus obsita extremisque frigoribus riget : 

 per (Zstatem quoque nulla suiparte nee canitie nee 

 gelu caret : quod equidem admirations dignum 



