1822.] 
•consolidates by flowing from above. In 
this village we found the guide, or, as 
he is called, the Pilot of Etna. After 
some conversation, he engaged to as¬ 
cend for three piastres, about twelve 
shillings and sixpence. From thence 
to the convent, where we were to rest 
our beasts, we had no more than a mile 
to go, which we performed in coasting 
along Monte Rosso, whose summit was 
gilded by the sun, and behind which 
it had already set, when we arrived. 
This mountain is several miles in cir¬ 
cumference. I profited by the last light 
of the sky, in order to sketch a view 
of the convent, which although of the 
common Extent, is nevertheless very 
picturesque. Built against a small hill, 
long since become cold, and covered 
with woods, it seems sheltered from the 
destructive effects of the volcano ; from 
the other side, between superb fir trees, 
you perceive the sea, the plains of Ca¬ 
tania and Syracuse. You are received 
into the convent nearly in the same 
manner as you would be at an inn ; the 
best situated room for the view is re¬ 
served for strangers ; but is very in¬ 
differently furnished. We were four 
hours in coining from Catania, which 
is, notwithstanding, only a distance of 
twelve miles. Being provided with a 
fowl, &c. I supped pretty well, slept in 
my cloak, and we set out at half past 
nine by moon light, the guide, servant, 
and myself, on our mules, the mule- 
driver always on foot. We first entered 
into an immense torrent of lava; the 
uncertain glimmerings of the moon 
gave an extraordinary aspect to the huge 
masses by which I was surrounded. I 
forgot to tell you, that in this convent, 
which is very convenient for the travel¬ 
ler visiting Etna, as he there dines and 
rests himself, you also put on winter 
clothing; in fact, that season was 
drawing near when we quitted the mo¬ 
nastery. You might have seen me then 
on the 21st of August, dressed nearly 
in the same manner as in England in 
the month of December. Soon after, 
long shadows scattered here and there, 
and a trembling of the leaves, an¬ 
nounced the approach to the forest of 
oaks, which formerly encircled Etna to 
the height of several miles ; blit which 
an immense torrent of lava had cruelly 
ravaged. The light of the moon, the 
huge and broken rocks, the great oaks, 
whose vegetation surprises the beholder, 
in the midst of lavas, the silence of my 
guides, interrupted only by the rust¬ 
507 
ling of the leaves, and by the tramp¬ 
ling of our mules, every thing led me 
to reflection. How can we reconcile 
the evident primitiveness of Etna with 
what Moses informs us of the creation 
of the world ? It is true, he does not 
say that God created the world in in¬ 
fancy ; and if He made Adam at the 
age of thirty years, He might also well 
create Etna with an open crater, and 
its flanks covered with lava. 
While journeying along, I asked my 
guide if it was true, as I had read, that 
the mountain subsisted all kinds of 
game and wild beasts: he begged me 
not to be afraid: I repeated the ques¬ 
tion to him, and received the same re¬ 
ply, he being still persuaded that the 
fear of encountering ferocious animals 
caused me to speak in that manner. I 
should, notwithstanding, be led to be¬ 
lieve that the mountain, considering 
its extent and gradual temperature, 
might well support them ; but it seems 
to me that Mr. Brydone gave too wide 
a scope to his imagination, when he 
described Etna as a general botanic 
garden, an almost universal menagerie. 
As for the rest, I had not the pleasure 
of seeing any of these animals, and we 
arrived without molestation, at the 
extremity of their domain, the forest, 
which may be about six miles in width. 
We then entered into the most fantas¬ 
tical lavas ; they have more of a slope, 
and the crevices which form there, as 
soon as they become cold, acquire more 
extent, and present a more rent appear¬ 
ance. It was one o’clock, and already 
the wind blew piercingly cold. 
I was sorry not to have brought a 
thermometer, hut I had not been able 
to find one for sale, either at Messina or 
at Catania. •' As for a barometer, it 
would have been almost useless to me ; 
the custom of calculating the elevation 
with this instrument, is extremely 
blameable. Some have found the eleva¬ 
tion of Etna to be twelve thousand feet, 
and others twenty-four thousand. Cas¬ 
sini reckons ten fathoms for the falling 
line of the mercury, by adding one to 
the first ten, two to the second, &c., 
but he has never surely made the ex¬ 
periment of his method on very high 
mountains, where the air is rarefied in 
a much more rapid progression. Etna 
might be measured trigonometrically, 
for it descends as far as the sea, the 
shore being taken for the base. We 
may even have an approaching idea of 
its elevation by the time which the 
un’s 
A Visit to Etna. 
