8 Ascent of Mt. Etna, February, 1832. 
might almost fancy the heavens nearer than the earth, and wish to 
start from such vantage ground, on his flight to another world. Si- 
cily was reduced to a map which we could study far beneath us. 
Almost under our feet, lay Catania and the villages which sprinkled 
the mountain’s base. Farther off to the south, Augusta and Magne- 
sia jutted out into the sea, and beyond were distinctly seen Ortygia and 
Plemmyrium, and the black specks in the beautiful round basin of Sy- 
racuse, we knew to be the shipsof our squadron. ‘The eye wander- 
ed on to Cape Passaro, and following the course of Eneas fleet by 
the Geloan fields and Agrigentum, rested on the blue sea beyond 
Lilybeum and Mt. Eryx. A prominent hillindicated the site of Paler- 
mo, and the castellated rocks embosoming the beautiful vale of Enna, 
were conspicuous near the center of the island, and are now known 
by the name of Castro Giovanni. From there to the fountain Cy- 
ane it looked like a short distance, and must have seemed so to Pro- 
serpine, as the last flower fell from her bosom and she sunk from so 
bright a world to the dark realms of her uncourteous lover. 
The mountains of Sicily are high and many of them were covered 
with snow; yet seen from Etna, they dwindle into hillocks, and with 
their intervening vallies give the country the appearance of gentle un- 
dulations and picturesque beauty, rather than the grandeur which char- 
acterizes most of its scenery from below. ‘Two rivers wind slug- 
gishly through the low meadows around the base of Mongibello, and 
it rises as if from the sea, prominent and well defined in its whole 
magnitude, and therefore more conspicuous and imposing than moun- 
tains of much greater elevation. ‘To the north lay a lake, which with 
the village near it, our guide named Randazzo. We looked in vain 
for the Lipari islands, the only place in which our view was inter- 
cepted by clouds. Messina lies behind and at the base of an am- 
phitheatre of hills, among which Mt. Chalcidice is between three and 
four thousand feet high, so that from Etna, Sicily appears, as tradition 
represents it to have been, joined on to Italy, and the snow-capped 
mountains of Calabria, seemed near and distinct enough to acknowl- 
edge the sway of the monarch of Trinacria, at least to tremble at 
the fearful demonstrations of his power. 
| Unfortunately we had left behind, our ship telescope, and the small 
one which was politely loaned us by Signor Gemmeliaro, would hard- 
ly compensate for longer stay in the freezing air and burning cinders 
of the “ Sommo Cratere.” Our guide had animated us in our toil- 
some ascent, by speeches, high sounding enough for a Hannibal or a 
