368 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



but we only see it in profile. Very different is 

 the appearance it presents, viewed from its 

 towering top, when the whole of its enormous 

 bulk is subjected to the eye. The first part, and 

 the nearest the observer, is the upper region, 

 which, from the quantity of snows and ice be- 

 neath which it is buried during the greater part 

 of the year, may be called the frigid zone, but 

 which at that time was divested of this covering, 

 and only exhibited rough and craggy cliffs, here 

 piled on each other, and there separate, and 

 rising perpendicularly ; fearful to view, and im- 

 possible to ascend. Towards the middle of this 

 zone, an assemblage of fugitive clouds, irradiated 

 by the sun, and all in motion, increased the wild 

 variety of the scene. Lower down, appeared the 

 middle region, which, from the mildness of its 

 climate, may merit the name of the temperate 

 zone. Its numerous woods, interrupted in vari- 

 ous places, seem, like a torn garment, to dis- 

 cover the nudity of the mountain. Here arise a 

 multitude of other mountains, which in any 

 other situation would appear of a gigantic size, 

 but are but pigmies compared to Etna. These 

 have all originated from fiery eruptions. Lastly, 

 the eye contemplates with admiration the lower 

 region, which, from its violent heat, may claim 

 the appellation of the torrid zone; the most 



