a PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1770. 



vations, unless assisted by art, does not come to pass for many ages, perhaps a 

 thousand years or more. The circuit of this lower region, forming the basis of 

 the great volcano, is upwards of lOO Italian miles. The vines of Etna are kept 

 low, quite the reverse of those on the borders of Vesuvius, and they produce a 

 stronger wine, but not in so great abundance. The Piemontese district is 

 covered with towns, villages, monasteries, &c. and is well peopled, notwithstand- 

 ing the danger of such a situation. Catania, so often destroyed by eruptions of 

 Etna, and totally overthrown by an earthquake towards the end of the last cen- 

 tury, has been rebuilt within these 50 years, and is now a considerable town, 

 with at least 35,000 inhabitants. 



In about 4 hours of gradual ascent they arrived at a little convent of bene- 

 dictine monks, called St. Nicolo dell' Arena, about 13 miles from Catania, and 

 within a mile of the volcano whence issued the last very great eruption in the 

 year i66q. They slept in the benedictines' convent the night of the 24th, and 

 passed the next morning in observing the ravage made by the abovementioned 

 terrible eruption, over the rich country of the Piemontese. The lava burst out 

 of a vineyard within a mile of St. Nicolo', and by frequent explosions of stones 

 and ashes, raised there a mountain, which Sir W. thinks is not less than half a 

 mile perpendicular in height, and is certainly at least 3 miles in circumference 

 at its basis. The lava that ran from it, and on which there are as yet no signs of 

 vegetation, is 14 miles in length, and in many parts 6 in breadth ; it reached 

 Catania, and destroyed part of its walls, buried an amphitheatre, an aqueduct, 

 and many other monuments of its ancient grandeur, which, till then, had re- 

 sisted the hand of time ; and ran a considerable length into the sea, so as to 

 have once formed a beautiful and safe harbour ; but it was soon after filled up 

 by a fresh torrent of the same inflamed matter, a circumstance the Catanians 

 lament to this day, as they are without a port. There has been no such erup- 

 tion since, though there are signs of many, more terrible, that have preceded it. 



For 2 or 3 miles round the mountain raised by this eruption, all is barren, and 

 covered with ashes ; this ground, as well as the mountain itself, will in time cer- 

 tainly be as fertile as many other mountains in its neighbourhood, that have 

 been likewise formed by explosion. If the dates of these explosions could be 

 ascertained, it would be very curious, and mark the progress of time with 

 respect to the return of vegetation, as the mountains raised by them are in dif- 

 ferent states ; those which seem to be the most modern are covered with ashes 

 onlv ; others of an older date, with small plants and herbs ; and the most 

 ancient, with the largest timber trees he ever saw ; but he believes the latter are 

 so very ancient, as to be far out of the reach of history. At the foot of the 

 mountain raised by the eruption of the year 1669, there is a hole, through 

 which, by means of a rope, they descended into several subterraneous caverns, 



