The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-12-09
II JtHyT ETNA.

d he 50 beautifully descTibes ~ tie io'to"
Ing letter 10 the New York Tribune:
q When we stopped to change horses at 'h'
town Of Aci Reale. first lett The Viaienet
! Iof the trcmor, and the awful sternness
> the sound. The smoke BY this time seem
. ed 70 be gathering On The side toward "a
LAMA, and hung in dark mass about nan
way down the side Of the mountaIn
Groups Of the villagers were gathered IN
! the streets which looked upward % Etna
I4nd discussing the chances Of al eruption
IaAh,n said an old peasant, 'the mountain
knows how TO make himself respected
When he talks. every body listens" The
r sound was the most awful that ever met
nv ears. Ii was a hard, painful moa n,
Inow and then fiatering like suppressed
sob. and had at the same time an express
ION Of threatening and oil agony. 1t did mol
leone from Elna alone. 1t had no liked 10.
! ca.on-it peryaded All spree. II was 70
The air, in tie depths Of Tho sea, IN the
earth under ny feet, every where, 10 tact'
and as it continued to increase in violence,
II experienced sensation Of positive dis
Itress. The people looked anxious and a.
Harmed, although they said il was good
thing for all Sicily; that last year they
had been in constant fear from earth.
!, quakes; and that an eruption invariably
q eft the Island quiet for several years. Il
IS true that during the last year, parts o.
/ Sicily and Calabria have been visited with
, severe shocks, occasi0ning much damage
) 10 property. A merchant of this city In
formed me yesterday that his whole tami.
~ had slept for two months IN the vaults Of
ha warehouse, fearing that their residence
might be shaken down in the night.
As we rode along from Aei Reale to Ia
ornina, all the rafting Of the diligence
over the rough road could not drown the
lawful noise. There was strong smell Of
{ sulphur in the air and the thick pants OF
i, smoke from the low crater, continued to
increase in strength. The sun was fierce
land hot, and the edges Of the suphnrols
clouds shone with dazzling brightness
A mounted soldier overlook US, and we
9 rode beside the diligence, talking with the
!. postiiIion. He had been up TO the noun
) tain, and taking his report to the Governor
i Of the district. The hea Of the day and
/ 1.-The continued tEemor Of the air iulied me
into sort OF doze, when was suddenly
aroused by a cry from the soldier, and the
/ stopping Of the diligence. AT the same
time there was terrific peal Of sound
n followed bv lar which must have shaken
e the whole Island. We looked up 10 Etna
q which was fortunately in full view before
: us. An immense mass OF snow white
smoke had burst from the crater, and was
! rising perpendicnarly into the air, It's
rounded volumes rapidly whirling one over
the o;her, yet urged with such impetuosi
I ltv that they only rolled outward after they
! had ascended 10 an immense height. Il
2 nigh, Of been one minute or tiVe-for
was so entrance by this wonderful specta-
lce that | lost the sense of time--but ii
seemed instantaneous, so rapid and vio-
lent we're the effects of the explosion.
when there stood in the air, based on the
summit Of tho mountain, a mass Of smoke
lour or FIVE mics high, and shaped precise
! ~ like the Italian pine tree.
Words cannot paint the grandeur OF
this mighty tree. Its trunk OF columned
smoke, one side of which was slrered with
/ the sun, while the other in shadow, was
/ lurid with red flame. rose for more than q
mite before it sent out lis cloudy boughs
Then. parting into thousand streams
each Of which again threw out its branch
ing tufts OF smoke, rolling and waving in
, the air il stood in intense relief against
the dark blue of the sky. Its rounded
masses Of foliage were dazzling!y white on
one side, while in the shadowy depths Of
the branches, there was constant play Of
brown, yellow aud crimson tnts, reveal
II ing the central shaft of fire. It was like
that tree celebrated in the Scandinavian
cages, as seen by the mother Of Harold Ha
dras-t that tree whose roots pierced through
the earth, whose trunk was the color OF
!, blood, and whose branches filled the utter
most corners of the Heavens.
Il This outburst seemed to have relieved
the mountain, for The tremors were now
less violent, though the terrible noise still
droned in the air, and earth, and sea. And
! now, from the base OF the tree, three white
streams slowly crept into as many sepa
, rate chasms, against the walls Of which
PLAYED the Pickering glow OF the burning
/, lava. The column Of smoke and flame
was still hurled upward, and the tree, al
ter standing about ten minutes, a
new and beautiful revelation Of the ac
tive forces Of Nature, gradually rose and
spread, lost its form, aud slowly moved BY
slight wind, (the first that disturbed ,hs
dead calm of the day. bent over to the
eastward We resumed our course. The
vast belt OF smoke at last arched over The
n strait, here about twenty miles wide, and
r sank toward the distant Calabrian shore.
As we drove under il, for some miles OF
our way, the sun was totally obscdred,
and the sky presented the singular specta-
Gle Of two hemisphercs ofclear blue, with
broad belt Of darkness stretching be-
/ Tween them. There was hot sulphur
eous yapor in the air, and showers of white
lashes tel, from time to time. We were
lidistant about fifteen miles, in strait line
!, from the crater, but the air was SO clear
even under The shadow Of the smoke, thai
could distinctly trace the dowaward move
ment of the rivers OF lava.
, WoaAN's RteHrs.--"Wiil you please t
permit ladv to occupy this seutF said