ERUPTIONS OF ETNA* 249 



peiana, showing the site of Pompeii, and the course of the river 

 Sarnus. Among the ruins of these cities many valuable relics 

 have been found. The^various utensils and works of art, almost 

 as fresh as though buried but for a day. Rolls of papyri, with 

 little tickets attached, denoting their contents; loaves bearing the 

 stamp of the baker; linen, and fish-nets, and fruits, all preserved 

 along with sculptures, and paintings, and unharmed for near 2000 

 years. No doubt, many valuable manuscripts will be found when 

 Herculaneum is more excavated, which will restore to us the lost 

 writings of the ancient philosophers. The eruption of Vesuvius 

 which buried these cities, is so well known we need not dwell 

 longer upon it here ; we pass to consider next the eruptions of 

 Etna. 



The cone of Etna, which has been so minutely and well de- 

 scribed by Mr. Lyell, is entirely composed of lavas, and rises 

 majestically to an altitude of two miles, the circumference of its 

 base being about 180 miles. At the base of the mountain is a 

 delightful, well cultivated and fertile country, thickly inhabited, 

 and covered with olives, vines, corn, fruit trees, and aromatic 

 herbs. Higher up, upon the mountain side, a woody belt encir- 

 cles ii, forming an extensive forest of chesnut, oak, and pine, 

 with some ^royes of cork and beech, and affording excellent pas- 

 turage for flocks; still higher up, is a bleak barren region, cover- 

 ed with dark lavas and scoritE. Here, from a kind of plain arises 

 the cone of Etna to the height of 11,000 feet, and continually 

 emits sulphureous vapors ; its highest points being covered with 

 eternal snow. Over the flanks of Etna a multitude of minor 

 cones aro distributed, particularly in the woody tract, caused by 

 form or eruptions, but the grandest feature of Etna is the Val del 

 Boce, which is a vast excavation, as though a portion of the 

 mountain had been removed on the side towards the sea, forming 

 a vast plain, five miles across, encircled by minor volcanic cones, 

 and enclosed on three sides by precipitous rocks from 2000 to 

 3000 feet high. This vast plain has been repeatedly deluged by 

 streams of lava, and presents a surface more rugged and uneven 

 than that of the most tempestuous sea. From the earliest period 

 of history, Etna appears to have been active, but the first great 



