1ft MOUNT jETNA. 



It appears, from the quantities of marine bodies deposited all over the 

 lower part of ^Etna, that it must have been once covered by the sea, to 

 at least one half of its present height. It is the opinion of M. Houel, 

 (who is acknowledged to have surveyed it with greater accuracy than 

 any other traveller,) that the whole island of Sicily, and the greater part 

 of Mount ^Etna, have been formed under water. But the period when 

 the eruptions from this volcano first commenced, the manner in which 

 the sea subsided, and the precise time at which it fell so low as its 

 present level, on the shores of Sicily, are facts concerning which we 

 have no certain knowledge. The general principle, however, M. Houel 

 thinks may be regarded as undeniable. When this mountain stood half 

 under water, the currents of the ocean would gradually accumulate upon 

 it large masses both of its own productions, such as shells and bones of 

 fishes, and of various other matters, which would be intermixed with the other 

 volcanic matters, discharged from the focus of the burning mount. In 

 a long series of ages, these strata of heterogeneous matters would naturally 

 become so considerable, as to form the enormous mass of mountains, 

 with which the volcano is now surrounded. The current of the ocean 

 might often convey the volcanic matters to a considerable distance from 

 the volcanic focus: and there are mountains at no small distance from 

 ^Etna, which seem to have been produced in this manner. Those of 

 Carlintini, at the distance of fifteen leagues, consist chiefly of a mixture 

 of pozzolana, with calcareous matters. At Lintini, and in places around 

 it, there are distinct beds of pozzolana, scoriae, and real lava, as well as 

 others, in which all these matters are blended together in a mass of 

 calcareous matter. At Palazzolo, about twenty-four miles from the city 

 of Syracuse, the sides of the hills having been cut by the streams, which 

 run down them in many places to a considerable depth, display 

 huge masses of lava, and extensive beds of pozzolana. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Noto, there are also volcanic productions to be found. At 

 Pachimo, where the island of Sicily forms an angle, there is a range of 

 hills, extending for several miles, which consist all of pozzolana. The 

 woody region, especially the east side, called Carpinetlo^ abounds with 

 large chesnut trees ; the most remarkable of which has been called, from 

 its size, the " chesnut tree of a hundred horse" the circumference of 

 which is said to have been two hundred and four feet. In Piedmontese, 

 or Regione culta, is the river Acis, so much celebrated by the Foets, in 

 the fable of Acis and Galatea. It bursts out of the earth, at once, in a 

 large stream, runs with great rapidity, and about a mile from its source 

 throws itself into the sea. Its water is remarkably clear, and so extremely 



