8 MOwNTAISS. 
TliPrc on liis flinty lied outstretched he lies, 
Wiiose pointed rock his tossing carcase wounds ; 
Tiiere with dismay he strikes beholding eyes, 
Or tViehts llie distant car with horrid sounds. 
® West 
The majestic Etna, which the ancients considered, no( 
unreasonably, ns one of the highest mountains in Uie world, 
and on the summit of which they believed that Deucalion 
and I’yn-ha sought reiltge, to save themselves from tlie uni- 
versal deluge, is situated on the plain of Catania, ni 
Sicilv. ^ . ,• 
It's elevalioii above the level of the sea has been esti- 
mated at 10,963 feet,, upwards of two miles. On deal 
days it is distincllv seen from Valetta, the capital of Malta, 
a distance of 150 mUes. It is incomparably the lai'gest 
bumini'' mountain in Europe. From its sides other moun- 
tains aiise, which; in diftbrent ages, have been ejected m 
cinde ma.sses from its enormous crater, ihe most exten- 
sive lavas of Vesuvius do not exceed seven miles in length, 
wliile those of Etna extend to fifteen, twenty, and some 
even to tlurh'’’ miles. 'Ihc emter of Etna, is seldom less lha*i 
a mile in circuit, and sometimes is two or three miles; 
bitt tlie ciraimference of the Vesiivian crater is never more 
than half a mile, even when widely distended, in its most 
destructive conflagrations. Lastly, the earthquakes occa- 
sioned by these adjacent volcanoes, their eraptions, then- 
sliowers of ignited stones, and the destruction and deso- 
lation vvdiich they create, are severaUy proportionate to 
tlicir respective dimensions. . _ 
A journey up Etna is considered as an enterprise or 
importance, as well from the difficulty of the route, as from 
tlie distance, it being thirty miles from Catania to the sum- 
mit of the mountain. Its gigantic bulk, its sublime 
elevation, and the extensive, varied, and grand prospects 
which are presented from its summit, have, howper, indu- 
ced the curious in every age to ascend and examine it ; and 
not a few have transmitted, tlirough the press, tlie observa- 
tions which they have made during their arduous journey. 
From its vast base it rises like a pyramid to tlie perpen- 
dicular height of two miles, by an acchvity nearly equal 
on all sides, forming with tlie horizon an angle of atoul 
frftccn degrees, which becomes greater on approaclung 
