72 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



but one that indicated inconceivable power, had fallen 

 upon our ears either as a threat or a distant warning. 

 As we skirted along the coast, which stretches for 

 thirty miles between Taormine and Catania, we 

 had everywhere recognised the action of volcanic 

 forces ; indeed, the whole of this coast, the rocks, 

 mud, and sands, all owe their origin to the volcano. 

 At every point the tufa of Etna is poured down 

 into the sea, and is in all cases the result of eruptions 

 which belong to the present geological period. A 

 few beds of recent lava-streams also extend to the 

 shore, and contrast by their black colour with the 

 greyish tinge of the rest of the rock. Occasionally, 

 too, these beds are superposed one upon another, as 

 at Aci Eeale, where the Scalazza is formed of seven 

 distinct strata. Sometimes, also, eruptive rocks, 

 whose origin goes back to the most remote geo- 

 logical ages, attracted our attention. The basaltic 

 rocks of Cape Mulini, those of Castello d'Aci, of 

 Fariglioni, and the Cyclopean islands, attest that in 

 all ages this part of Sicily has been the theatre 

 of the most formidable phenomena. Catania is, 

 indeed, worthy of being the capital of a district that 

 has been so fatally endowed ; for, although it is 

 separated from the great crater which is the centre 

 of action of the subterranean fires, by a distance of 

 nearly twenty five miles as the crow flies, this town 

 appears to be a direct product of the volcano. En- 

 closed within four lava beds of different ages, the 

 materials for its houses and the pavement for its 

 streets have been alike derived from this source ; 

 while it is only through the lava that the inhabitants 



