THE COASTS OF SICILY. 81 



In consequence of the weight of the atmosphere, a 

 man of medium height supports at the level of the 

 sea a pressure of about 22,775 Ibs., but when he 

 reaches the margin of the crater this pressure will 

 not exceed 15,258 Ibs. ; thus during this double jour- 

 ney, which generally occupies a space of forty-eight 

 hours, the traveller is twice obliged to support a 

 variation of temperature of at least 72, and a varia- 

 tion of pressure of 7517 Ibs. 



We left Catania at break of day, and crossed the 

 cultivated zone by a carriage road. These first 

 gentle acclivities of Mount Etna present an appear- 

 ance which is at once cheering and depressing. At 

 every step we advance, we tread upon a soil covered 

 by rich crops of corn and olive groves. We pass 

 through villages, in which everything announces 

 ease and competency, and we find on the road side 

 charming cottages, or small and comfortable farm- 

 steads, whose white-washed walls are half hidden 

 beneath the luxuriant tendrils of the vine or the 

 foliage of richly laden fruit trees. But the earth 

 we tread upon is a bed of volcanic cinders ; the 

 waving crops, the richly laden cherry orchards, the 

 pomegranate trees, the flowering orange, have all 

 sprung up on lava, which has scarcely been pulve- 

 rised by the slow action of time. The lovely villages 

 through which we passed, the charming country 

 houses which we stopped to admire, are built of lava 

 and cemented with pozzolane. Not unfrequently, 

 indeed, the very verge of an ancient crater has 

 served for the site of some smiling cottage, whose 

 beauty had attracted our attention. At every step 



VOL. II. G 



