THE COASTS OF SICILY. 89 



only about 3,000 feet more to climb in order to 

 reach the Casa Gemellaro. This, however, was the 

 roughest part of the excursion, and in order in some 

 degree to 1 renovate our strength, we resolved upon a 

 halt. Our basket of provisions was now opened, 

 and travellers and muleteers sat down together on the 

 fine and close grass which is peculiar to high moun- 

 tains, and here after partaking of a meal, which 

 was seasoned by fatigue, we all fell asleep at the 

 foot of an oak, covered with a few remains of 

 foliage. 



After a short siesta, we resumed the ascent, 

 and entered the desert region. Here the vegetation 

 decreases so suddenly that it seems almost wholly to 

 disappear. The 477 species of plants, which grow 

 in the woody region, are here reduced to about 

 eighty, among which we must include more than 

 thirty species of lichens *, but not a tree or a shrub 

 is to be seen in these solitudes. The flora of Etna 

 is here only represented by a few of the lowest 

 forms of plants, which are scattered in tufts in the 

 crevices of the rocks, or upon some of the slopes 

 formed by the ancient lapilli. Thus it is impos- 

 sible to conceive anything more desolate than this 

 part of the mountain. Our eyes were wearied with 

 gazing on these slopes, which were uniformly covered 



* These numbers have been taken from a work, entitled, Chloris 

 JEtnensis, o le quatro florule dell' ^Etna, by Signer C. S. Rafinesque- 

 Schmaltz. The author of this treatise, after having resided for a 

 long time in Sicily, settled in America, and has published amongst 

 other works the Ichthyology of the Ohio, which is often referred to 

 by Cuvier. 



