506 
A Visit 
there is nothing new in the plan of ope¬ 
ration which lie has proposed, and it is 
to be exceedingly regretted, that so 
acute and intelligent an engineer, has 
not fully examined, and remarked with 
more exactness upon M.Carnot’s system 
for the construction of a fortified place. 
Is it acknowledged that we have arrived 
at perfection in fortification, and that 
no further improvement can be made in 
the art of defence ? The late General 
Jarry informed his pupils that he had a 
new system of fortification to propose, 
but he did not shew it to any of the 
officers who were under his tuition; and 
from what is since known, it does not 
appear that he had any new system to 
offer, otherwise it would have been 
adopted by some of our engineers. 
The destructive effect of enfilade and 
ricochet batteries, is still felt in sieges, 
and no effectual remedy has yet been 
prepared. Will Sir. H. Douglas, who 
seems so well qualified to discuss scien¬ 
tific subjects—or will Colonel Jones, 
whose history of the sieges in the Pe¬ 
ninsula shews him to be an officer of 
talents and information, favour us with 
a more perfect system of fortificatiou 
than what we possess—or, at least, in¬ 
form us what effectual remedy can be 
employed against the operation of enfi¬ 
lade and ricochet batteries, as traverses 
seem to be the only defence in use at 
present. 
It is in time of peace that the princi¬ 
ples of war should be discussed and ex¬ 
amined. When hostilities commence, 
professional men are too much employ¬ 
ed to enter deeply into military specu¬ 
lations. Let it be recollected, that in 
several sieges in the Peninsula, great 
faults were committed : the right of our 
approaches at Badajoz was so ill covered 
as to be open to an enfilade; and at 
Burgos and St. Sebastian, there were 
several instances of a palpable want of 
knowledge manifested in the attack of 
fortified places. 
A British Officer. 
Nov. 12. 1821. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LETTERS/rom the SOUTH of ITALY, by 
a recent Traveller. 
( Continued from page 295 J 
LETTER V. 
Catania , Aug. 27, 1819. 
E set out at three o’clock, P.M. 
from this city, and proceeding 
slowly on my mule, I ruminated on 
the description which I am about to 
give you of the most celebrated of vol- 
o Etna. [Jan. I, 
canoes, of which yon have already 
heard so much, that I have decided 
simply to relate to you what came un¬ 
der my own observation. We began 
our march in frightful roads, amidst 
rocks of lava which cover the first 
part of the route. Our mules, habitu¬ 
ated to these rough passes, never once 
stumbled; but an accident happening 
to“mine embarrassed me greatly. I felt 
my foot wet, and one side of my pan¬ 
taloons was covered with blood; I 
alighted, and perceived that my mule 
had been recently hurt. With a hand¬ 
kerchief and thong we bound up the 
wound, and continued our journey in a 
road covered with lava, but bordered 
with superb Indian fig trees, (this fruit, 
which is despised in America, is an 
article of great consumption in Sicily,) 
ord inary fig trees, and enormous olives : 
every where else this tree appeared to 
me paltry, and of a difficult vegeta¬ 
tion ; but here it grows to admiration. 
After proceeding five or six miles, we 
passed through the village of Graveli- 
na; where I was assailed by nearly the 
whole population demanding charity. 
The number of poor which you meet 
with in Sicily and Italy, is sufficient 
to harden the heart of the traveller, 
who cannot be expected to supply the 
wants of such idle mendicants, who 
languish on a land, the fruitful soil of 
which affords all that is necessary for 
subsistence. Some miles further we per¬ 
ceived, and afterwards passed through, 
another village called Masca-Luscia : it 
contains two churches ; one of which, 
nearly destroyed by an earthquake, was 
never very remarkable, and the other 
is only rendered so, by a steeple fan¬ 
tastically decorated with stones of 
various colours. We arrived, in fine, 
at the last village, that of Nicolosi, 
which appeared poorer than all the 
rest; this was surely in former times, 
the Town of Etna, where the inhabi¬ 
tants of Catania took refuge, on the arri¬ 
val of the Greeks : the environs abound 
in olive trees and vineyards, which 
produce excellent wine. All this part 
was covered with ashes by the erup¬ 
tion of Monte Rosso, a secondary vol- 
cauo which formed itself at the time of 
the last eruption. Monte Rosso is one 
of those mountains by which Etna is 
surrounded. It appears that when an 
eruption takes place, the lava making 
its way on the flanks of the mountains, 
pierces the ground in the place which 
offers the least resistance, and there 
forms a swelling, which it afterwards 
consolidates 
