Ch. VII.] 
ETNA. 
83 
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE CONE OF ETNA. 
In our first volume we merely described that part of Etna 
which has been formed during the historical era; an insigni- 
ficant portion of the whole mass. Nearly all the remainder 
may be referred to the tertiary period immediately antecedent 
to the recent epoch. We before stated, that the great cone is., 
in general, of a very symmetrical form, but is broken, on its 
eastern side, by a deep valley, called the Val del Bove*, which, 
No. 17. 
Great valley on the east side of Etna. 
a, highest cone, b, Montagnuola. c, Head of Val del Bove. d, d, Serve del 
Solfizio. e, Zaffarana. /, One of the lateral cones, ff, Monti Rossi. 
commencing near the summit of the mountain, descends into 
the woody region, and is then continued, o,n one side, by a 
second and narrower valley, called the Val di Calanna. Below 
the latter another, named the Val di St. Giacomo, begins, — a 
long narrow ravine, which is prolonged to the neighbourhood 
of Zaffarana (e, No. 17), on the confines of the fertile region. 
These natural incisions, into the side of the volcano, are of such 
* In the provincial dialect of the peasants called ' Val del Bue,' for here 
the herdsman 
6 in reducta valle mugientium 
Prospectat errantes greges. — ' 
Dr. Buckland was, I believe, the first English geologist who examined this valley 
with attention, and I am indebted to him for having described it to me, before 
my visit to Sicily, as more worthy of attention than any single spot in that island, 
or perhaps in Europe. I have already stated, that the view of this valley, which 
I have given in the frontispiece of the second volume, does not pretend to convey 
any idea of the grandeur of the scene, 
G 2 
