lavas, if we may be allowed to reafon from analogy, must have flowed from the mountain at least fourteen thousand years ago.'

This inference, however, we find, has, at laft, exceedingly embarraffed poor Recupero; who confeffed to Mr. Brydone, that, in writing the History of Etna, he found Mofes hanging like a dead weight upon him, and blunting all his zeal for inquiry for that he really has not the confcience to make his mountain fo young as that prophet makes the world.'-And truly this Roman Catholic philofopher has reafon to be uneafy, for our Author informs us that the Bishop, who is ftrenuously orthodox-for it is an excellent fee-has already warned the Canon to be upon his guard; and not pretend to be a better natural hiftorian than Mofes; nor prefume to urge any thing that may, in the fmalleft degree, be deemed contradictory to his facred authority.'-So, what will become of the book, or of its author, if he dare to publish it, is, to us, matter of fearful expectation rather than of hope: although we should fincerely rejoice to have an opportunity of reading fo curious a dif quifition.

Another fpecimen of this performance, and that a very entertaining one, may be given from Capt. B.'s defcription of his journey up to the fummit of the wonderful mountain abovementioned.

It was on the 27th of May, at day-break, that the party formed by our Author, his friends, their attendants, and guide, fet out on this laborious yet pleasing expedition.

The whole mountain is divided into three diftinct regions, diftinguished by the names of the fertile, the woody, and the barren; the first is the lower, the fecond the middle, and the third forms the upper part. They are as different, both in climate and productions, as the three zones of the earth; and perhaps might (as cur Traveller obferves) with equal propriety, have been ftyled the torrid, the temperate, and the frigid zone.

The first region furrounds the foot of the mountain, and forms, on all fides of it, the most fertile country in the world, to the height of about fifteen miles, where the woody region begins. It is compofed almost entirely of lava, which, after a great number of ages, is at laft converted into the richest of all toils.

When they had travelled about twelve miles up the fertile, or cultivated region, they arrived at the village of Nicolofi, where they found the barometer at 27: 1. At Catania it stood at 29:8. Although the former elevation is not fupposed to exceed 3000 feet, yet the climate was totally changed. At Ca

From the City of Catania, fituated at the foot of the mountain.

tania

:

tania the harvest was entirely over, and the heat was infupportable here it was moderate, and the corn yet green. The fruit of this region, which is chequered with vineyards, orchards, and corn-fields, is reckoned the finest in Sicily; particularly the figs.

In abridging the narrative of this journey up the mountain, it is impoffible for us not to injure it irreparably. Our narrow limits will oblige us to pass over a thousand curious particulars; to omit almost all the Author's ingenious observations relating to the latent fires of this ftupendous volcano, and to its various craters and erruptions; and to haften, as faft as the nature of fo difficult a march will allow, to the tremendous principal crater at the fummit. We muft not, however, omit to observe, that this lower region of the great parent mountain, is covered over with a multitude of leffer hills, every one of which is a volcano, and was originally formed by an eruption our Author thus accounts for them:

As the great crater of Etna itself is raised to such an enormous height above the lower regions of the mountain, it is not poffible, that the internal fire raging for a vent, even round the bafe, and no doubt vaftly below it, fhould be carried to the height of twelve or thirteen thousand feet, for probably fo high is the fummit of Etna. It has therefore generally happened, that after fhaking the mountain and its neighbourhood for fome time, it at last bursts open its fide, and this is called an eruption. At first it only fends forth a thick fmoke and fhowers of afhes that lay wafte the adjacent country: these are foon followed by red hot ftones, and rocks of a great fize, thrown to an immenfe height in the air. The fall of these ftones, together with the quantities of afhes difcharged at the fame time, at laft form the spherical and conical mountains I have mentioned. Some mes this process is finished in the courfe of a few days, fometimes it lafts for months, which was the cafe in the great eruption 1663. In that cafe, the mountain formed is of a great fize; fome of these are nog lefs than feven or eight miles round, and upwards of one thoufand feet in perpendicular height; others of them are not more than two or three miles round, and three or four hundred feet high.

After this mountain is formed, the lava generally bursts out from the lower fide of it; and bearing every thing before it, is for the moft part terminated by the fea. This is the common process of an eruption; however, it fometimes happens, though rarely, that the lava bursts at once from the fide of the mountain, without all these attending circumftances; and this is commonly the cafe with the eruptions of Vefuvius, where the elevation being fo much smaller, the melted matter is generally carried into the crater of the mountain, which then exhibits the phænomena I have defcribed; difcharging showers of stones and ashes from the mouth of the volcanɔ, without forming any new mountain, but only adding confiderably to the height of the old one; till at last the lava, riling near the fummit of the mountain, bursts the fide of the crater, and the eruption is declared. This has literally been the cafe with two cruptions [

have been an attentive witness of in that mountain; but Etna is upon an infinitely greater fcale, and one crater is not enough to give vent to fuch oceans of fire.'

One of these young Etnas, known by the name of Monpelieri, engaged our Traveller's particular attention, by its fingular beauty:

It is rather of a spherical than a conical fhape, and does not rife in perpendicular height above three hundred feet, but it is fo perfectly regular on every fide, and fo richly overfpread with fruits and flowers, that I could not leave fo heavenly a fpot, without the greatest regret. Its cup or crater is large in proportion to the mountain, and is as exactly hollowed out as the best made bowl. I walked quite round its outward edge, and think it is fomewhat upwards of a mile.'

Monpelieri is of a very old date; and was formed by the eruption which deftroyed the beautiful and fertile country near Hybla, once fo much celebrated for its honey.-The great eruption of 1669, after fhaking the whole country around for no less than four months, and forming a very large mountain of stones and ashes, burst out about a mile above Monpelieri, and defcending, in a mighty torrent, hit exactly against the middle of that mountain, pierced it to a great depth, and then, dividing into two branches, furrounded Monpelieri, joined again on the fouth fide, laid waste the whole country all the way to Catania, fcaled the walls of that city, and from thence poured its flaming torrent into the ocean. In its way it is faid to have totally deftroyed the poffeffions of near 30,000 people; it formed feveral hills where there were formerly vallies, and filled up a large deep lake, of which there is not now the leaft veftige to be seen.

Our Author fays he found a degree of wildness and ferocity in the inhabitants of Etna, which he had not obferved any where else. At Nicolofi, fays he, the whole village flocked around us, and abufed us exceedingly.' He gives feveral inftances of their rudeness, and inhofpitable treatment of ftrangers; but herein his account differs greatly from that of Baroh Riedefel, who performed the fame tour about three years before Mr. Brydone: and of whofe travels we have given an account in our Reviews for March and April laft. The Baron fays, "the inhabitants round Etna have not that ferocity of manners, nor are they horrida afpecta, as travellers defcribe them, I found good-natured, civil, and honest people, fuch as are to be met with in all places where few ftrangers refort,and where men live in the original, fimple ftate of Nature.They are fincere, and willing to oblige; and the traveller finds the most good-natured men in thefe well-peopled villages."— How fhall we account for this difference of reprefentation? Each of our ters has, no doubt, spoken of the people as

he

he found them; and the difference was, probably, all owing to fome accident. The truth is, perhaps, fimply this,-the Ætneans are like the inhabitants of other countries, fome individuals are more civilized in their manners, and behave better than their neighbours. Baron R. we fuppofe, met only with decent people, and Capt. B. happened to fall in with a mob.But it is now time to pursue our journey.

Leaving Nicolofi, after travelling an hour and a half over barren. afhes and lava, our travellers arrived at the Regione Sylvofa, or the tempetate zone. • So foon as we entered thefe delightful forefts we feemed to have got into another world. The air, which before was fultry and hot, was now cool and refreshing; and every breeze was loaded with a thoufand perfumes, the whole ground being covered over with the richest aromatic plants. Many parts of this region are really the most heavenly fpots upon earth; and if Ætna resembles hell within, it may with equal juftice be faid to resemble paradife without.

It is indeed a curious confideration, that this mountain fhould reunite every beauty and every horrour; and, in fhort, all the most oppofite and diffimilar objects in nature. Here you observe a gulph, that formerly threw out torrents of fire and smoke, now covered with the most luxuriant vegetation; and from an object of terror, become one of delight. Here you gather the most delicious fruit, rifing from what was but lately a black and barren rock. Here the ground is covered with every flower; and we wander over these beauties, and contemplate this wildernefs of fweets, without confidering that hell, with all its terrors, is immediately under our feet; and that but a few yards feparate us from lakes of liquid fire and brimstone.

But our aftonishment ftill increafes, on cafting our eyes on the higher regions of the mountain. There we behold, in perpetual union, the two elements that are at perpetual war; an immense gulph of fire, for ever exifting in the midst of fnows that it has not

Here, too, Baron Riedefel's account differs from Mr. B's. Speaking of the fame foreft, the Baron fays, at the beginning I only found a few ever-green oaks, which were far from fine, or tall; and advancing farther into the foreft, I faw nothing but hornbeams, and fuch like trees, crooked and all bent to the ground —I at last met with fome oaks, but they could not be called fine, and were not remarkable for fize. This wood furrounds the whole mountain, but is not thick, and confifts of poor and inconfiderable trees '—It is to be observed that although the feafon of the year in which thefe gentlemen vifited Etna was nearly the fame, yet there was the difference of almost a month's time between them; which, in the beginning of fummer, might make a great alteration in the appearance of the foreft. The Baron was there on the 2d of May; and if, in that year, it happened to be a backward fpring, the trees would be feen to much greater difadvantage than on the 27th of May, in (poffibly) a forwarder year. But this, indeed, is all conjecture; and if we have failed in our friendly endeavours, to reconcile the difagreeing parties, we must e'en leave them to fettle the difpute themselves.

power

power to melt; and immenfe fields of fnow and ice for ever furrounding this gulph of fire, which they have not power to extinguish.

The woody region of Ætna afcends for about eight or nine miles, and forms an exact zone or girdle, of the brighteit green, all around the mountain. This night we paffed through little more than the half of it; arriving fome time before funfet at our lodging, which was no other than a large cave, formed by one of the most antient and venerable lavas. It is called La Spelonca dal Capriole, or the goats cavern, because frequented by thefe animals; who take refuge there in bad weather.

Here we were delighted by the contemplation of many great and beautiful objects. The profpect on all fides is immenfe; and we already seem to be lifted up from the earth, and to have got into a new world.

Our cavern is furrounded by the most stately and majestic oaks ; of the dry leaves of which, we made very comfortable beds; and with our hatchets, which we had brought on purpose, we cut down great branches, and, in a fhort time, had a fire large enough to roast an ox. I obferved my thermometer, and found, from 71 at Nicolofi, it had now fallen below to. The barometer ftood at 24: 2. In one end of our cave we ftill found a great quantity of fnow, which feemed to be fent there on purpofe for us, as there was no water to be found. With this we filled our tea-kettle, as tea and bread and butter was the only fupper we had provided; and probably the best one to prevent us from being overcome by fleep or fatigue.

'Not a great way from this cavern, there are two of the most beautiful mountains of all that immenfe number that fpring from Ætna. I mounted one of our best mules, and with a good deal of difficulty arrived at the fummit of the higheft of thefe, just a little before fun-fet. The profpect of Sicily, with the furrounding fea and all its islands, was wonderfully noble. The whole courfe of the river Semetus, the ruins of Hybla, and feveral other ancient towns; the rich corn-fields and vineyards on the lower region of the mountain, and the amazing quantity of beautiful mountains below, made a delightful scene. The hollow craters of thefe two mountains are each of them confiderably larger than that of Vefuvius. They are now filled with stately oaks, and covered to a great depth with the richest foil. I obferved that this region of Etna, like the former, is compofed of lava; but this is now covered fo deep with earth, that it is no where to be feen, but in the beds of the torrents many of thefe it is worn down by the water to the depth of fifty or fixty feet, and in one of them flill confiderably more.-What an idea does not this give of the amazing antiquity of the eruptions of this mountain!

In

So foon as it was dark we retired to our cave, and took poffeffion

of our bed of leaves.'

Here, bidding our weary travellers good night, we leave them to their comfortable repofe, at their half way house in the clouds; where we propofe to call on them in our next excurfion, and to accompany them to the top of their journey.

G.

ART.