CHAPTER IV. 
ASCENT OF MOUNT ETNA. 
It is a good forenoon’s work to prepare for the ascent of 
Mount Etna. There are horses to he hired, bargains to be 
made, warm clothing to he put in readiness, provisions to he 
laid in, hrandy and cigars to he stowed away for the night; 
and sundry other little matters to he attended to, if the ad¬ 
venturer designs spending the night on the mountain. My 
companion on the occasion was a young Englishman attached 
to the army at Malta, a very pleasant and gentlemanly 
traveling acquaintance ; he was anxious to see the sun rise 
from the summit of the mountain. To this arrangement I 
was opposed for several reasons : first, I had often seen the 
sun rise from the top of a mountain; secondly, the season was 
late, and it is no pleasant journey over the beds of lava to the 
crater of Mount Etna in the middle of the night. But, inas¬ 
much as my friend had no recollection of ever having seen 
the sun rise from a mountain, I gave up, and agreed to be 
victimized. 
The distance from Catania to the crater of Mount Etna is 
twenty-three miles; the area of the base covers an extent of 
more than a hundred miles; and the height, according to the 
most authentic French measurement, is eleven thousand 
four hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is generally 
covered with snow from October to June; but, owing to 
an unusually fine autumn, we were fortunate in finding it 
entirely free from snow on the 10 th of October, and we after¬ 
ward learned that it remained so until the beginning of 
November. On the road from Palermo we made repeated 
inquiries as to the practicability of the ascent at this season; 
