A rUit to Etna. 
509 
and soon after on a large swamp of 
snow, where we found a large round 
stone, three feet in diameter, of the 
species of those called volcanic balls, 
which the mountain throws up in great 
eruptions; but it is only a grain of 
metal in comparison with the volcano, 
which ejected it from its bosom. 
In line, we mounted the last cone which 
supports the crater; the ashes and the 
stones slipping under our feet. The 
cold was excessive, but exercise kept us 
warm; 1 quitted my cloak,and rolling 
up in it some pieces of lava, I left it on 
the mountain. My guide, in order to re¬ 
pose himselt, invited me at every mo¬ 
ment to enjoy the view which presented 
itself. At last we arrived on the bor¬ 
ders^ of the crater; but the wind was 
so violent, that I could scarcely cast a 
glance over it. I was thrown doyen, 
and had it not been for my ciceroni , 1 
might have rolled to the foot of the de¬ 
clivity which had given us so much 
trouble to ascend. Fastened and lying 
down on the ridge of the crater, I con¬ 
sidered it at my ease, and braved the 
fury of iEolus and Vulcan. 
It is a vast aperture having four sum¬ 
mits of different heights, rather more 
than a mile in width, and on account 
oi its inequalities, I should think it 
about four in circumference. It is di¬ 
vided into two craters, by a cone rising 
from its centre, and which forms a 
crater itself, the slope of which is not 
very rapid. The antieut aperture is 
united to this cone by a gentle declivity 
where has probably been formed within 
a recent period, a small crater, a partial 
volcano, a perfect truncated cone, from 
whence issues a great quantity of smoke. 
The general aspect of the crater is 
much less dreary than that of Vesuvius ; 
the substances surrounding it are not so 
black, but have rather the colour of 
potter's earth. It is now six years 
since Etna lias made an eruption, but 
it has given* concussions which have 
alarmed the inhabitants of Catania and 
overthrown some houses. I attribute 
its silence and its tranquillity, not to the 
extinction of the fires,*for they still rage 
in its bosom, but to the great vacuum 
which must necessarily exist under this 
enormous vault. The whole of the 
mountain being formed only by what 
it has seized and driven out of the 
bowels of the earth, we might reason¬ 
ably think that an interior vacuum, 
perhaps equal to the half of the exte¬ 
rior mass, must exist; at least that it is 
not filled with water as some persons 
have believed. However this may be, 
it appears that in great eruptions, all 
the cones,all the partial volcanoes form¬ 
ed in the crater, are thrown to the out¬ 
side ; which must then make a fright¬ 
ful aperture by its extent and profun¬ 
dity. I dont know whether, when this 
cone 
