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I took advantage of them to gratify my passion for mountaineering, and made the ascent of Etna, to the description of which by Alexandre Dumas I refer my readers.
The cones situated in the higher parts of the forest zone are chiefly clothed with lofty pines; while those at a lower elevation are adorned with chestnuts, oaks, and beech trees. These cones have from time to time been buried amidst fresh lava-streams descending from the great crater, and thus often become obliterated. Ideal Section through Etna. Older lavas, chiefly trachytic; b.
Etna is entirely composed of volcanic rocks, and rises in imposing grandeur to the height of 10,000 ft. above the level of the sea. It is about 180 miles in circumferences, and is surrounded on every hand by apparently small volcanic cones, though of no inconsiderable size, which tend in a great degree to increase the apparent dimensions of the central mountain.
G. Shallon acutifolia has more sharply pointed leaves than those of the species. Etna Broom. Sicily and Sardinia, 1816. This is a large-growing species of elegant growth, and remarkable for the abundance of yellow flowers with which it is literally covered in August.
We rode for hours by the margin of a vast plain of basalt stretching southward and westward as far as the eye could reach.... I realised the truth of an assertion made first by Richthofen, that our modern volcanoes, such as Vesuvius and Etna, present us with by no means the grandest type of volcanic action, but rather belong to a time of failing activity.
POST-PLIOCENE. Shells, recent mammalia in part extinct. BRITISH. Loam of Brixham cave, with flint implements and bones of extinct and living quadrupeds. FOREIGN. Dordogne caves of the reindeer period. NEWER PLIOCENE. The shells almost all of living species. BRITISH. Bridlington beds, marine Arctic fauna. FOREIGN. Eastern base of Mount Etna, with marine shells.
For a tour of a few weeks, I can fancy no place more interesting than this fair island. The enchanting Straits of Messina, Catania, Mount Etna, and lovely Aci Reale; the ancient Girgenti and Syracuse with their Greek and Roman ruins; Marsala and Palermo. It is also close to the interesting island of Malta, and is the highway for steamers to all parts.
As he looked at the great, shining waste of the sea, purple and gold, dark and intense and jewelled, at the outline of Etna, at the barbaric ruin of the Saracenic castle on the cliff opposite, like a cry from the dead ages echoing out of the quivering blue, at the man before him leaning against the blinding white wall above the steep bank of the ravine, Artois said to himself that the South was dangerous to young, full-blooded men, was dangerous, to such a man as Delarey.
It was only a few days ago the monster gave a warning and shook these houses; but they still "sit under their vine and sing the merry songs of peace to all their neighbors" these merry, light-hearted Sicilians! as if they had Mount Etna under perfect control.
And for aught I know, or do not know, he is sweeping the crater of Etna to this very day. "And now," said the fairy to Tom, "your work here is done. You may as well go back again." "I should be glad enough to go," said Tom, "but how am I to get up that great hole again, now the steam has stopped blowing?"
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