A P r isit to Etna . 
oio 
cone is considerably enlarged, its weight 
alone makes it fall into the gulph, the 
vaults of which have no longer the 
force to sustain it, or whether the erup¬ 
tion suffices to cause this displacement. 
This question can never be well decided; 
for it would then require that chance 
should place an observer on the borders 
of the crater, and in that case, he 
would run a great risk never to be able 
to relate what he had seen. 
How can I describe to you the im¬ 
mense panorama which developed itself 
before my eyes! The whole of Sicily 
was encircled round Etna, which its 
own grandeur insulates from every thing 
that surrounds it; the other mountains, 
rivers, woods and plains, are simply 
traced on a map extended at my 
feet. Calabria, from which a small ca¬ 
nal alone separates 11 s, is, only a point 
of land, which is almost lost between 
the two seas. Farther off is Greece, 
but I could not see it. The point which 
is distinguished to the south, in the 
midst of the immensity of waters, is 
Malta, that bulwark of Christianity, 
that rock on which split the glory of the 
Ottoman arms. I fancied 1 saw those 
numerous fleets, and those brave 
knights who manned them, ploughing 
the liquid plains; first I admired them, 
and soon after I made the sad reflection 
that all were dead, that generations had 
succeeded them, and that man is as 
small in time as in space. 
I was assured that we might see the 
coast of Africa; but the weather was 
very foggy, and I could not perceive it. 
One thing struck me, although it was 
•only a very simple effect of the perspec¬ 
tive, and this was the inclined plane 
which the sea presented towards me. 
T 11 that moment, when the sun rises 
to render life to so many creatures, so 
many towns which are only a point in 
the extent embraced by the eye, I was 
truly enraptured to find myself in the 
centre of so vast a panorama. Of how 
many successive beds of lava and ashes 
is this mountain formed ? How many 
generations has it seen? With how 
many eruptions has it alarmed the va¬ 
rious inhabitants, of which we have not 
even an idea? 
I could not make the entire tour of 
the crater on account of the violence of 
the wind, which prevented me also 
from descending into the interior, which 
appeared to me less rapid than that of 
Vesuvius. 
It is when seated on the borders of 
the crater, that we may look down from 
[Jan. 1, 
one side into the nigged flanks of the 
mountain, and from the other, on an 
immense horizon; it is then, I say, that 
one is tempted to reason on the nature 
of volcanoes. I passed in review the 
various systems with which I was con- 
•/ 
versant, and lam forced to confess that 
• each of them presents difficulties. I 
claim your indulgence for the reading 
of this letter; it is already very long, 
I shall notwithstanding explain to you 
the ideas which the sight of Vesuvius 
and Etna has left on my mind. 
Volcanoes are certainly the most sur¬ 
prising objects we meet with on the sur¬ 
face of our globe. Allow me to sup¬ 
pose that one man alone inhabits it; 
that he walks about in his domains ; 
where will he find fire unless a thunder¬ 
bolt falls at his feet, or that he arrives 
near to a volcano, near to Etna for in¬ 
stance? We may judge of his astonish¬ 
ment at the sight of a mountain differ¬ 
ent from all others. Huge stones, of 
which the whole is the true image of 
chaos, would at first appear to him a 
barrier to his ariving at the summit; 
but a deafening noise is heard, the en¬ 
tire mountain roars, a thick cloud of 
smoke rises up and becomes white, a 
light, of which he cannot conceive the 
cause, covers the top and escapes in 
sparkling sheafs ; if curiosity has tri¬ 
umphed over his fear, he braves all ob¬ 
stacles, he traverses the snow, and at 
last he arrives at the summit. Some 
red hot stones are still strewed under his 
feet; should he lay hold of one, what 
will he think of the pain he experi¬ 
ences ? Without doubt he will attribute 
the cause to some evil genius, to some 
being superior to his nature and inha¬ 
biting these places ; thus of how many 
mythological tales has Etna been the 
theatre! It was there that were found 
the forges of Vulcan, the cavern of the 
terrible Polyphemus that monstrous 
Cyclop, from whose voracity Ulysses 
had so much difficulty in escaping; the 
people believe still that Etna is the 
sojourn of demons—a door of hell. 
It was with great regret that I 
quitted a spot where I breathed, I 
thought, with more freedom than in 
any other part of the world. Having 
arrived at the Maison des Anglais , I 
there finished my breakfast and amused 
myself in designing. You perceive 
from thence in the south-east, a tower 
which is detached in the sky, and which 
is called the Philosopher’s Tower; it is 
a. small square heap of stones and bricks 
which have been elevated on the ruins 
of 
