37 
£ T 
Monpileri. This is of a fpherical form, and its perpendi¬ 
cular height does not exceed 300 feet, and its circuit is 
about a mile. It is perfectly regular on every fide, and 
richly overfpread with fruits and flowers. Its crater is 
large in proportion to the mountain itfelf, and is as ex- 
adtly hollowed out as the beft made bowl. This moun¬ 
tain was formed by the firft eruption that deftroyed the 
ancient Hybla, which was celebrated for its fertility, and 
particularly for its honey, and thence called Mel Pajfi ; 
but in confequence of being reduced by feveral eruptions 
to a ftate of wretched fteriiity, it obtained the contemp¬ 
tuous appellation of Mai PaJJi. The lava, however, in its 
courfe over this beautiful country, has left feveral little 
iflands or hillocks, which exhibit a Angular appearance, 
with all the blcom of the mod luxuriant vegetation, en- 
ccmpaffed and rendered almofl; inacceflible by large fields 
of black and rugged lava. 
About three miles above San Niccolo dell’ Arena, the 
lower region of Etna terminates, and the middle region 
begins. This is called the Rcgione Sylvoja , the woody re¬ 
gion, or the temperate zone ; and extends from eight to 
ten miles in a direct line towards the top of the mountain. 
Its circumference is eftimated by Recupero at feventy or 
eighty miles; and it comprehends a furface of about forty 
or forty-five fquare leagues. It forms a zone of the 
blighted: green all round the mountain, which exhibits 
a pleafing contraft to the white and hoary head of this 
venerable mountain ; and it is called the w r oody region, 
becaufe it abounds with oaks, chefnuts, beeches, firs, and 
pines. The foil is a vegetable earth, generated by the 
decompofition of the lava, and fimilarto that in the lower 
region. “ As foon as we entered thefe delightful forefts 
(fays Mr. Brydone), we feemed to have got into another 
world. The air, which was before l'ultry and hot, was 
now cool and refrefhing; and every breeze was loaded 
with a thoufand perfurffes ; the whole ground being co¬ 
vered over with the richeft aromatic plants.” The appear¬ 
ance of the woods in general is exceedingly pifiturefque, 
not only on account of the number and variety of the 
trees, but from the inequality of the ground, which ex¬ 
hibits them like the ranges of an amphitheatre, one above 
another. The eaft fide of the woody region abounds 
with chefnut-trees of an extraordinary fize. But the molt 
remarkable of thefe trees is the cajlagno di cento cavalli, or 
the chefnut-tree of an hundred horfe ; fo called, be¬ 
caufe it is fuppofed to be capable of flieltering an hun¬ 
dred horfes under the canopy of its boughs. Fabulous 
report deduces its name from the following circumflance : 
Jean of Arragon, during her flay in Sicily, whilft (he was 
travelling from Spain to Naples, vifited mount Etna, and 
was attended by her principal nobility ; but being over¬ 
taken by a fiorm, all of them' found fhelter under this 
tree. It Hands upon a rifing ground, and is furrounded 
by an open pafture, which is bounded by woods and vine¬ 
yards. Some have fuppofed that it was merely a buffi or 
clump of feveral trees united ; but Swinburne informs us, 
that all the Hems are united in one body, at a very fmall 
depth under ground. This is confirmed by Denon, who, 
in his Travels in Sicily, publifhed in 1789, fays, “ the 
centum cavalli , which is alfo called the /even brothers , is a 
chefnut-tree coeval with the world: the heart of the tree 
is open, nothing remaining but the fap divided into feven 
mangled flocks, which ftill bear enormous branches. 1 
feveral times made the complete circuit of the trunk, 
and always found it took feventy-fix paces to arrive at 
the place from whence I had fet out, five and-twenty for 
one of its greatefl diameters, and fixteen for the fmalleft. 
The canon Recupero informed me, that notwithftanding 
the vaft antiquity of this tree, its fize w'as continually 
increafing, fuch is the fecundity of the foil; that he had 
formerly cleared away the earth two feet deep around 
the trunk, and meafured the circumference, and that in 
his laft obfervations he found the dimenfions increafed. 
I myfelf obferved in it, what I never law in any other 
trees, tender branches proceeding from the very heart of 
Vol. VII, No. 406. 
N A. 
the old flump, in the part oppofite to the fap, in the 
centre of that pait which was the hardeft and leafl capa¬ 
ble of (hooting forth a bud, or of admitting the circula¬ 
tion of the juice. This tree taken altogether is fo mon- 
flrous, that it has rather the appearance of a grove, than 
the produce of one and the fame growth. On examining 
it with attention, you fee plainly that feven diftant flocks 
of fuch a fize never could have been produced fo near 
each other; befides that the rents are fo exactly conform¬ 
able, and fo evidently tending to the-fame centre, that a 
fliadow of doubt cannot remain of its being one fingle 
tree. Calculating the time it muff have taken this tree 
to attain fuch a thicknefs, and adding to it the lime ne- 
ceflary for its decay, with the period fiiice which it has 
been known in its prefent fiate, this vegetable production 
will reckon a great many centuries ; and if it adds nothing 
to the archives of mount Etna, will occafion no fmall de¬ 
rangement, at leafl, in thofe of the known duration of 
the life of chefnut-trees,” In the middle cavity, or the 
part that is denominated the hollow of the tree, a hut is 
built for the habitation and ufe of thofe who collect and 
preferve its fruit, and who dry the nuts in an oven, and 
prepare conferves of them for tale. Mr. Swinburne fays, 
that his .whole caravan, men and animals, were accom¬ 
modated at their eafe in this extraordinary inclofure: and 
that after three accurate meafurements, he found the 
outer circumference, at one inch above the ground, to be 
196 Englifli feet. The forefl of pines is almofl inaccef- 
fible, on account of rocks and precipices. It is chiefly 
worthy of notice, as it leads the traveller to the fnow 
grotto. This cavity has been lately formed by the action 
of the waters under the beds of lava, and removing the 
flratum of pozzolana below them. It is fituated on a 
mount named Finocchio. This grotto has been repaired 
at the expence of the knights of Malta, who have hired 
this and other caverns in the mountain for magazines of 
fnow, which is more wanted in their illand than in Sicily r , 
and which forms a very confiderable article of commerce. 
The fnow is thrown in at two openings above; and they 
have accefs to thefe as well as to the internal parts by 
flights of fteps. At the feafon of exportation, it is prefled 
clofe in large bags, and lumps of it are wrapped up in 
leaves, and conveyed to the fliore on mules. Pieces of 
fnow, preferred in this manner, have appeared like the 
mod tranfparent cryflal. Mod of the travellers in this 
region have fought fhelter on the night preceding their 
farther afeent, in the cave called La Spelonca del Capriole , 
or La Grotta della Caprc, or the grotto of the goats, be¬ 
caufe thefe animals take refuge here in bad weather. This 
grotto is fituated about 5054 feet above the level of the 
fea, according to the calculations of M. de Sauflure. It 
is furrounded by flately and majeftic oaks, the dry leaves 
of which fupply the travellers who fhelter in it with 
beds, as the wood does with fuel. In the neighbourhood 
of this cave there are two beautiful mountains, the cra¬ 
ters of which are larger than that of Vefuvius.- They 
are now filled with oaks, and covered to a great depth 
with the richeft foil. 
The upper region of Etna, called its frigid zone, or 
the Regione Deferta , is marked out by a circle of fnow and 
ice, extending, as fome ftate, to the diftance of about 
eight miles; but, according to Fazello, nearly twelve, 
and having the great crater in its centre. The furface of 
this zone is for the raofl part flat and even ; and the ap¬ 
proach to it is indicated by the decline of vegetation, by 
uncovered rocks of lava and heaps of fand, by near views 
of an expanfe of fnow and ice, and of the torrents ot 
fmoke ifluing from the crater of the mountain, and by 
the difficulty and danger of advancing amidft flreams of 
melted fnow, flieets of ice, and gufts of chilling .wind. 
The curious traveller, however, thinks himfelf amply 
recompenfed, upon gaining the fummit, for the perils 
with which he has encountered. Kis fatigue is alleviated 
by the reflexion that the emperor Adrian, and the phi- 
lofopher Platen underwent the famej, for the purpofe of 
1 -exploring 
