.VTVV. 



.TTNA. 



7 



notion that the mountain-fires issue from the nxfion of demon*. 

 TlK- plain of CaUnia, watered by the Simeto (called the Oiarretta in 

 the last lsane of it. ooone after M* junction with the Gum. Long*), 

 forms U> boundary of Val Demons on the oath. 

 The haw of Jftna coven u area nearly 90 mile* in droumference ; 



iu highest point 10.874 feet above the Ural of the en. Owing to 

 this (tn elevation, the higher parts of the mountain have a climate 



i as different from the valleys at its foot, as are the polar from 

 the equatorial regions; and from this cause, together with the differ- 

 BO* to th* nature of the sou, there are three great natural divisions 

 or BOMS in the mountain the fertile, the woody, and the desert The 

 love* u called the Parte Piemontese, merely expressing that it lies 

 at the foot of the mountain : it is a beautiful, rich, and populous 

 country, covered with luxuriant fields of corn, vines, and fruit-trees. 

 The limit cannot be very well denned, as it insensibly blends with 

 th* next, the Region* Selvoaa, or the woody, which is covered by 

 Imsftsnes fnrssts nf ifciilniitn. -JIT, beeches, and pines, forming a tone 

 six or seven miles in width, the superior limit being about 6300 feet 

 abore the sea. The third and highest region, called the Parte 

 Booperte, the hare or desert, rises nearly 4600 feet higher. About 

 1100 feet front the summit there is an irregular plain, estimated to be 

 BiiTrT to circumference, and from this plain rises the steep termi- 

 ; cone, at the summit of which is the great crater or opening, 

 *ly throwing out sulphureous vapours. The dimensions of 

 have been very variously stated by different travellers, the 

 Me from two and a half to four miles, and the depth from 

 600 to 800 feet; but th* height of the cone, the diameter of the enter, 

 and iu depth, are liable to constant change from the eruptions. 

 The eon* has more than once (alien in and been reproduced : in the 

 yew 1444 it-was 880 feet high, and fell in after the earthquake of 

 1537. In 1998, when a violent earthquake shook the whole of Sicily, 

 and killed 60,000 pawns, th* cone lost so much of its height that it 

 could not be MO from several places in Val Demone where it was 

 before visible. Although, taken as a whole, ^Etna forms a cone 

 which is to general of a very symmetrical form, when examined in 

 detail it U found to be studded on iu flanks, and particularly in the 

 wood* region, with numerous minor cones; small when compared 

 with the great maun, but of a magnitude that would make them rank 

 as mountains, if detached. One of the largest, called Monte Minardo, 

 near Bronte, is upwards of 700 feet in height, and the Monti Rossi 

 Nicolosi are 450 feet high, and have a base of two miles in cir- 

 althongh ranked among the cones of the second magni- 

 There are about 80 of these considerable cones, and they have 

 all been produced by lateral eruptions of lava and ashes. By subse- 



lava-stream or by 

 i process 

 i mass of 



new ejections. Th* eastern aid* of the mountain is broken by a deep 

 valley of colossal dimensions, called the Val di Bove. This is a vast 

 mphHhssrri four or five miles to diameter, surrounded by vertical 

 > 1000 to 3000 feet in height, and which, taken 



rouc y aera erupons o ava an ases. y 

 quent eruptions a cone is often surrounded by a lava-stream 

 hem, and thus its bright is diminished : a repetition of the 

 often osnsis its entire disappearance under the accumulated 



to euBBSiimi ilh other valleys that lead into it and each other, descends 

 from BSBT th* summit to the confines of the fertile region, and 

 aWbtts a irreat part of the internal structure of the mountain, to the 



of from 4000 to 6000 feet In these sections are seen layer, of 

 Bterstratified with lava, and towards the summit, these layers 

 are broken up by frssh eruptions of lava from below, and are disturbed 

 by the sue osssivstotrasion of lateral cones. We also see to the Val di 

 Bore th* beds of Ian traversed in all directions by enormous dykes: 

 thrjr project from the praoipioes towering TerticeJlr to a great height, 

 *( varying from two to twenty feet inbreadth. 



OeolofioBl ooBsideration* alone lead to the conclusion that the 

 rnest eruptions of JEtaa most have long preceded the historical era. 

 There is no ground for supposing that the altitude of the mountain 

 has materially varied within th* last 8000 yean. Of the 80 most 

 ""'''' *"' ooo**, not on* of the largest has been produced 

 wtthtoth. period of authentic history. 



There are not more than 60 eruptions recorded to history, from 



the Christian era, 18 to the next 1500 yesn, i?*durtag 'the" 

 lh and 17th centuries, and 81 from that time to th? pre- 

 sent The most remartsble would loo* be noticed, and it is 

 probabU that many occiored to the second period of which we have 

 BO record; although nmiHin for the whole period of 1600 yean 

 &l be to DO degree at variance with the Cstory of other and 

 Bs^hboertog volcanoes, far the island of Ischia enjoyed an interval 



' ' .- . .,.,,.! 



j (v. 8) .peaks of old eruptions of .Etna, said to 









Meant. the earliest inhabiUnU of the island, 



^4aeed by the Sfculi from Italy. Homer does 

 .An eruption is recorded to have occurred in the 

 " teUrl to har, died 496 B.C, Another 



., 



** ""V** ** **>* * K 

 one to his play of Prometheus 



r "* "d poetical in hta 



the 

 first 

 that 

 oily, an-ooordmg to 



Pindar, the outstretched monster spread as far as the volcanic 

 regions about Cumic and Naples. 



An eruption is mentioned by Thucydides 425 ac., which did some 

 damage to the lands of Catena, as Catania was then called ; and he 

 adds, that this was the third eruption of lava on record since the 

 Oreeks had been settled in Sicily. Diodorus Siculun (xiv.) men- 

 tions an eruption, 896 ac., which stopped the Carthaginian army in 

 their march from Messina to Syracuse, and obliged them to go n.imd 

 the whole base of the mountain in order to reach Catania. No erup- 

 tion U on record from this time till 140 ac., when the volcanic agency 

 assumed extraordinary activity, and with the next 20 years there were 

 no less than four violent eruptions^ the lost of which did great damage 

 to the territory and the city of Catania. An outburst is mentioned as 

 accompanying the commencement of the civil wan between Ceesar and 

 Pompey ; and another in ac. 44, just before the murder of the former. 

 Within the next 12 yean two eruptions are noticed; the second one, 

 which was attended by a destructive lava-flood, took place just before 

 the civil war between Octavianus and Anthony. During the empire 

 the mountain seems to have been comparatively quiescent ; only two 

 eruptions are recorded, one in A.D. 70, the other A.I>. 251, and neither 

 is described as formidable. For several centuries after this .tna 

 remained quite harmless ; but the smoke that constantly issued from 

 it showed that the causes of its agitation were not exhausted. From 

 this enumeration of the eruptions that occurred in ancient times it is 

 clear that the volcanic action of .Etna was then, as it is now, of a very 

 irregular and intermittent character. It remains to notice some of the 

 more remarkable eruptions of modern times. 



In 1537, after violent rains and great devastations occasioned by '!" 

 flooding of the river Simeto, .-Etna was rent in several places, and from 

 the openings there poured forth deluges of liquid lava. They directed 

 their course towards the monastery of San Nicolas d' Arena, destroyed 

 the gardens and vineyards, and proceeding towards Nicolosi burnt 

 two villages and destroyed most of the inhabitants. When the 

 conflagration ceased, the summit of the mountain sunk in with a 

 terrific noise. These agitations of the mountain continued throughout 

 the whole year. The smoke, noise, and shocks of earthquakes affected 

 the whole island. In 1669 an earthquake had levelled to the ground 

 all the houses in Nicoloei, a town situated near the lower margin of 

 the woody region, about 20 miles from the summit of ./Etna, and 10 

 from the sea at Catania. Two gulfs then opened near that town, from 

 whence sand and scoria: were thrown up to such an amount, t 

 the course of three or four months, a double cone, called Monti Rossi, 

 450 feet high, and two miles in circumference, was formed. In the 

 plain of San Lio, a fissure 6 feet broad opened with a loud crash, and 

 ran in a somewhat tortuous course to within a mile of the summit of 

 ./Etna, traversing a length of 12 miles, and emitting a muxt vivid li_-lit. 

 Five other parallel fissures of considerable length opened one at' 

 other, and scut forth smoke and bellowing sounds, which were heard 

 at a distance of 40 miles. The light emitted from the great rent of 

 San Lio appears to indicate that it was filled to a certain elevation 

 with incandescent lava, probably to the height of an orifice not for 

 distant from Monti Rossi, which at that time opened and poured 

 out a lava-current This stream, after overflowing 14 towns and 

 villages, some with a population of between 3000 and 4000 inhabitanta, 

 at last reached the walls of Catania, which hod been purposely 

 to protect the city ; but the burning flood accumulated till it rose to 

 the top of the rampart, which was 60 feet in height, and then Ml in 

 a fiery cascade and overwhelmed a port of the city. The \\.ili, 

 however, was not thrown down, and the solid lava may still 1.. 

 curling over the top of the rampart like a cascade in the act of falling. 

 This great current had performed a course of 1 5 miles before it entered 

 the sea, where it was still 600 yards broad and 40 feet deep. 



The eruption of 1792 is thus described by Ferrara : " On the finrt, 

 days of March the mountain emitted thick clouds of smoke, and at 

 night flames were seen to rise to a considerable height. On the 8th it 

 shook violently, and for several days awful roarings were heard, which 

 appeared to proceed from the innermost cavities of ./Etna. During 

 April the mountain was t-.K-ral.ly y thai smoke and flames 



were occasionally seen issuing from its summit. In the beginning of 

 May immense masses of smoke rose in perpendicular columns, nn>l n 

 the 1 1 th lava was seen to flow from the great crater. Meantime shocks 

 of an earthquake were felt at Messina; and on the morning of the 12th 

 the internal roaring was repeated, the black smoke rose in the air in 

 the shape of a gigantic tree, spreading its top to an immense extent 

 around, and iu the midst of these dense masses of black smoke were 

 seen numerous globes of white smoke as fleecy as cotton. Towards 

 eleven o'clock A.M. of that day, an explosion, like the discharge of 

 heavy artillery, was heard and felt all around the base of ^Etna, fol- 

 lowed by a hollow rumbling noise, and the black smoke arose with 

 fresh violence. In the evening the lava flowed down the sides of the 

 mountain in several streams one westward towards Aderno, and 

 another to the south-east into the valley of Trifoglietto, and stopped 

 atZoocolaro, 10 miles from the crater. On the 13th the mountain 

 became more quiet, and remained so till the 23rd, only sending forth 

 a shower of ashes and hot sand, which fell all around its sides. On 

 the 23rd the black smoke re-appeared ; and the next day a new mouth 

 opened iteelf in the plain Del Lago, about 3 miles south-east of the 

 great crater ; and from it, for several days, blocks of old lava and scorioo 



