THE COASTS OF SICILY. 03 



and ashes which characterises Stromboli. The effects 

 of the eruption of the preceding year were still ap- 

 parent, and the crater of Etna at the period of our 

 visit had the appearance of a deep and irregular 

 valley beset with points and capes, and formed by 

 abrupt slopes, bristling with enormous scoriae and 

 blocks of lava heaped up in masses, or rolled and 

 twisted in a thousand different ways by the force of 

 the volcanic action, or the accidental influences to 

 which they had been subjected in the act of falling. 

 The blue, green, and white lava, stained here and there 

 with broad black patches or streaks of dull red made 

 the livid colour of the surrounding rocks still more 

 striking. A death-like silence reigned over this 

 chaos ; long lines of white vapour were noiselessly 

 escaping from a thousand different fumarolles, and, 

 trailing slowly along the sides of the crater, car- 

 ried to the spot where we were standing suffoca- 

 ting emanations of sulphurous and hydrochloric acids. 

 The pale light of the moon joined to the rising dawn 

 was a fit accompaniment to this wild scene, whose 

 grand and truly supernatural character no language 

 can adequately express. 



The soil on which we were treading was entirely 

 composed of cinders and scoriae, and was humid and 

 warm, and covered with a white coating that looked 

 like hoar frost. This humidity was, however, in fact 

 the acid emitted from the crater, which moistened 

 and corroded everything that came in contact with it, 

 while the silvery film on which a few crystals were 

 sparkling was a deposit of sulphur sublimated by 

 the volcano, and of salts formed by the chemical re- 



