4 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1770. 



the middle, and extreme cold of winter in the upper region. As they ap- 

 proached the latter, a gradual decrease of vegetation is perceived, and from large 

 timber trees they came to the smaller shrubs and plants of the northern climates; 

 he observed quantities of juniper and tansey. Night coming on, they here 

 pitched a tent and made a good fire, which was very necessary, for without it, 

 and very warm cloathing, they would surely have perished with cold ; and at 

 one o'clock in the morning of the 26th, they pursued their journey towards the 

 great crater. They passed over valleys of snow that never melts, except there 

 is an eruption of lava from the upper crater, which scarcely ever happens ; the 

 great eruptions are usually from the middle region, the inflamed matter finding 

 probably its passage through some weak part, long before it can rise to the ex- 

 cessive height of the upper region, the great mouth on the summit only serving 

 as a common chimney to the volcano. In many places the snow is covered with 

 a bed of ashes, thrown out of the crater, and the sun melting it in some parts 

 makes this ground treacherous. They arrived safe at the foot of the little moun- 

 tain of ashes that crowns Etna, about an hour before sun-rise. This mountain 

 is situated in a gently inclining plain, of about Q miles in circumference ; it is 

 about a quarter of a mile perpendicular in height, very steep, but not quite so 

 steep as Vesuvius ; it has been thrown up within these 23 or 30 years. Hitherto 

 the ascent had been so gradual (for the top of Etna is not less than 30 miles 

 from Catania, whence the ascent begins) as not to have been the least fatiguing ; 

 and if it had not been for the snow, we might have rode on our mules to the 

 very foot of the little mountain. As Sir W. saw that this little mountain was 

 composed in the same manner as the top of Vesuvius, which, notwithstanding 

 the smoke issuing from every pore, is solid and firm, he made no scruple of going 

 up to the edge of the crater. The steep ascent, the keenness of the air, the 

 vapours of the sulphur, and the violence of the wind, which obliged them several 

 times to throw themselves flat on their faces to avoid being overturned by it, 

 made this latter part of the expedition rather inconvenient and disagreeable. 



Soon after they had seated themselves on the highest point of Etna, the sun 

 arose and displayed a scene that indeed passes all description. The horizon 

 lighting up by degrees, they discovered the greatest part of Calabria, and the sea 

 on the other side of it ; the Pharo of Messina, the Lipari islands, Stromboli 

 with its smoking top, though at above 70 miles distance, seemed to be just 

 under their feet ; they saw the whole island of Sicily, its rivers, towns, harbours, 

 &c. as if they had been looking on a map. In short, they took in at one view, 

 a circle of about QOO English miles. The pyramidal shadow of the mountain 

 reached across the whole island and far into the sea on the other side. They 

 counted from hence 44 little mountains (little in comparison of their mother 

 Etna, though they would appear great any where else) in the middle region on 



