636 
^TNA. 
The prospective view from the summit of this mountain is one of 
the most enchanting. The following is the description of Brydone. 
“ In about an hour’s climbing we arrived at a place where there 
was no snow, and where a warm and comfortable vapour issued from 
the mountain, which induced us to make another halt. Here I found 
the mercury at 19°6|. The thermometer was fallen three degrees 
below the point of congelation ; and before we left the summit of 
iEtna, it fell two degrees more, namely, to twenty-seven. From this 
spot it was only about three hundred yards to the highest summit of 
the mountain, where we arrived in time to see the most wonderful 
and most sublime sight in nature. 
“ But here description must ever fall short; for no imagination has 
dared to form an idea of so glorious and so magnificent a scene ; nei- 
ther is there, on the surface of this globe, any one point that unites 
so many awful and sublime objects : The immense elevation from the 
surface of the earth, drawm as it were to a single point, without any 
neighbouring mountain for the senses and imagination to rest upon, 
and recover from their astonishment in their way down to the world ; 
this point or pinnacle, raised on the brink of a bottomless gulf, as 
old as the world, often discharging rivers of fire, and throwing out 
burning rocks, w ith a noise that shakes the whole island. Add to this, 
the unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greatest 
diversity, and the most beautiful scenery in nature, with the rising 
sun advancing in the east to illumine the wondrous scene. 
“ The w hole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, and shewed 
dimly and faintly the boundless prospect around. Both sea and land 
looked dark and confused, as if only emerging from their original 
chaos, and light and darkness seemed little undivided, till the morn- 
ing by degrees advancing completed the separation. The stars are 
extinguished, and the shades disappear. The forests, that till now 
seemed black and bottomless gulfs, from whence n6 ray was reflect- 
ed to shew their form or colours, appear a new creation, rising to 
sight, catching life and beauty from every increasing beam. The 
scene still enlarges, and the horizon seems to widen and expand itself 
on all sides ; till the sun, like the great Creator, appears in the east, 
and, with his plastic ray, completes the mighty scene. All appears 
enchantment, and it is with difficulty we can believe we are still on 
earth. The senses, unaccustomed to the sublimity of such a scene, 
are bewildered and confounded; and it is not till after some time 
that they are capable of separating, and judging of, the objects that 
compose it. The body of the sun is seen rising from the ocean, 
immense tracts both of sea and land intervening ; the islands of 
Lipari, Panari, Alicudi, Stromboli, and Volcano, with their smoking 
summits, appear under your feet ; and you iook down on the whole of 
Sicily as on a map, and can trace every river through all its windings 
from its source to its mouth. The view is absolutely boundless on 
every side, nor is there any one object within the circle of vision to 
interrupt it ; so that the sight is every where lost in the immensity ; 
and I am persuaded it is only from the imperfection of our organs, 
that the coasts of Africa, and even of Greece, are not discovered, as 
they are certainly above the horizon. 
