6 Ascent of Mt. Etna, February, 1832. 
edge of the soles of our boots, in order to make some footing ; this 
was excessively painful, particularly to the ancle joints: in some pla- 
ces on the other hand the snow was soft, and lifting the foot from its 
deep bed to take another step was the most trying part of the labor; 
it was a pain caused by this which had exhausted the Doctor. We 
halted to rest our limbs and to enjoy the prospect which was increa- 
sing in grandeur with every step. Several times, we threw ourselves 
at full length on the snow and felt in all its luxury, that exquisite 
sensation of pleasure which attends the rapid recovery of the body 
from the fatigue of intense exertion. We rose above the level of 
Mt. Agnola, which we left to the right, and at ten minutes before noon 
reached the English house (‘Casa degli Inglesi”) which was so 
buried in snow that we could not enter it, although we had obtained 
the keys for that purpose from Sign. Gemmellaro. Travelers usu- 
ally ride up to this place, and sleep and take refreshment before 
mounting the cone, which occupies but an hour from the English 
house. We were already worn out by six hours of most exhausting 
exertion: as there was no time to lose, we proceeded to make our 
first repast as well as we could, by taking our seats in the sun, under 
the lee of the building and tearing to pieces with our fingers a cold 
roast chicken. Ihad no appetite, ate very little and took no drink 
except snow melted in my mouth. 
We here saw ourselves far above points, which, when we issued 
from the Bosco, appeared but little below the summit. The side of 
the mountain is covered with conical protuberances, whose hollow 
tops prove them to be the craters or vents of some previous erup- 
tions. ‘The snow was broken, in some few places, by black jutting 
rocks of lava. Our guides pointed out several wolf tracks and one 
of ahare. At a quarter past twelve, we started to ascend the cone, 
between which and the English house, was a space nearly level ; on 
the other side of it, the snow which we had seen sprinkled with ash- 
es sometime before, now became dirty, soon black, and after ascen- 
ding the cone a little way, was succeeded by loose stones and cin- 
ders; from these a hot, sulphureous, suffocating vapor was steaming, 
our feet soon felt the change, and from being very cold became very 
warm. ‘The ascent was steep and peculiarly difficult from the loose 
stones and cinders yielding under the feet: the vapor moreover was so 
dense that we could see buta short distance. Lieut. S. falling behind 
about three yards, we lost sight of him entirely, and knowing him to be 
much exhausted, we were afraid he had halted some way below ; on 
