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CHAP. VI. 



TIIE COASTS OF SICILY. 

 ETNA. 



Aspect and nature of the coasts from Giardini to Catania. Catania ; 

 its harbour ; its soil. Etna. Excursion to the volcano. 

 Nicolosi, the Casa Gemellaro ; a night passed at the foot of the 

 cone ; the great crater ; the crater of 1843. Eruption of 1669 ; 

 its traces as far as the town of Catania. Elie de Beaumont's 

 theory of Etna. Observations made in the crater of Vesuvius. 

 Examples of the slight degree of solidity of the earth's crust. 

 Approximate calculation of volcanic forces. 



SINCE our departure from Milazzo we had scarcely 

 lost sight of the summit of Mount Etna, which was 

 still smoking from the eruption of 1843. At Giar- 

 dini we had obtained a view of the whole eastern 

 side of the volcano, and here we saw the first bed of 

 lava, the same which, 396 years before the Christian 

 era*, was poured forth for a distance of nearly twenty 

 miles from the crater, where it formed Point Schiso. 

 We had often during the night watched the smoke 

 which, escaping from the cone, reflected the reddish 

 tint of the subterranean fires over all the neighbour- 

 ing district ; and often, too, a hollow rumbling sound, 



* Historical and Topographical Map of the Eruptions of Etna from 

 the Era of the Sicani to the Present Time (1824), by Joseph Gemellaro. 

 This map is accompanied with a description in English and Italian. 



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