2 



ETNA. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



over which its lavas extend, the circuit is probably twice 

 reat. 



as 



J 



The cone is divided by nature into three distinct zones 

 called the fertile, the woody, and the desert regions. Thp 

 first of these, comprising the delightful country around the 

 skirts of the mountain, is well cultivated, thickly inhabited 

 and covered with olives, vines, corn, and fruit trees. HiHei 

 up, the woody region encircles the mountain — an extensive 

 forest six or seven miles in width, affording pasturao-e for 

 numerous flocks. The trees are of various species, the chest- 

 nut, oak, and pine being most luxuriant ; while in some tracts 



Above the forest is the desert 

 region, a waste of black lava and scorise, which terminates 

 upwards in a kind of table-land, from which rises the principal 

 cone, 1,100 feet high, emitting continually steam and sul- 

 phureous vapours, and in the course of almost every century 

 several streams of lava. 



Cones produced hy lateral eruption. 

 original feature in the physiognomy of Etna is the multitude 

 of minor cones which are distributed over its flanks, and 

 which are 



are groves of cork and beech. 



most 



most abundant in the woody 



region. 



These, 



although they appear but trifling irregularities when viewed 

 from a distance as subordinate parts of so imposing and 

 colossal a mountain, would, nevertheless, be deemed hills of 



considerable altitude in almost any other region. 



Without 



enumerating numerous monticules of ashes thrown out at 

 different points, there are about 200 of these secondary 

 volcanos as laid down in Von Waltershausen's map within 



raphical miles in diameter havh _ 

 summit of Etna as a centre. Outside of this circular area are 

 a few other modern cones of large size, such as the double 

 hill near Nicolosi, called Monti Rossi, formed in 1669, whicli 



i=i 



mile 



Monte 



scribed in the twenty-fourth chapter, it only ranks as a cone of 

 the second magnitude amongst those produced by the lateral 

 eruptions of Etna. Monte Minardo near Bronte, on the east 

 of the great volcano, is upwards of 700 feet in height. 

 On looking down from the lower borders of the desert 



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