90 RAMBLES OP A NATUKALIST. 



with old lava, or with gray ashes. The path now 

 became scarcely perceptible, and the mules, notwith- 

 standing their habitual sure-footedness, stumbled at 

 every step on this soil, which was at once moveable 

 and hard. Nevertheless, we continued to ascend, 

 and the temperature sensibly diminished. At the 

 foot of Montagnuola, one of the most considerable of 

 the secondary cones of Etna, the guides showed us 

 the glaciers of Catania, which consist of vast masses 

 of snow regularly arranged below a thin stratum of 

 sand. A little higher up the snow was completely 

 uncovered*, and here we were obliged to have 

 recourse to our cloaks and wrappers, but very soon 

 even this extra clothing proved insufficient to pro- 

 tect us from the cold, and in order to retain some 

 slight degree of warmth, we were obliged to leave 



* The German geologist Hoffmann, -who visited Etna in 1830, 

 made some interesting observations on the desert region, -which we 

 give in the subjoined table. 1 



Feet. 

 Limit of the woody region on the road from Nicolosi to 



the crater 5470 



Extreme limit of vegetation ----- 8628 



Limit of the vegetation of the Astragalidse - - 7429 

 Limit of the vegetation of the Berberidse - - - 7110 

 Limit of the vegetation of the Pteris aquilina (common 



bracken or fern) ------- 5619 



Limit of the snow under the Montagnuola, Oct. 19th - 7909 



Archiv fur Mineralogie, Geognosie, $r., 1839. 



It ought to be observed that several of the plants mentioned by 



Hoffmann, rise on Etna to a much greater height than on any other 



mountain situated in the same latitude, which is probably owing to 



the internal heat of the soil. 



1 [The numbers in the above table have not been reduced to 

 English feet, as it is uncertain whether they represent French or 

 German measurements.] 



