MALTA AND SICILY. 
245 
names in a book. It was late in the evening 
before we reached Catania. We did not ride 
into the town in the good order in which we 
started in the morning, for some of our party 
were several miles in advance of the others, 
who came straggling in singly, according to 
the condition of their wearied animals. 
Poor creatures ! they had had a hard day’s 
work indeed. 
The following short account of the devas 
tations occasioned by some eruptions of 
Mount Etna, I have abridged from several 
authors, who have described these outpour¬ 
ings of the fiery indignation of heaven upon 
the children of men. The last considerable 
eruption was in the year 1706, but it was not 
nearly so destructive as that of 1669. In 
that year the mountain had been giving 
warning for several months, that some ter¬ 
rible convulsion was about to take place. 
