Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-01-09
A LEAP THE DARK.

Sicily. Though by no means a person of ro-
mantle character, he had fancy for wandering
about mountains, for getting belated in forests
and supping by the light Of woodfres under a
rock. 1t WAS perfectly natural, therefore, that
he should wish to visit Mount Ktna, look at
the great chestnut trees, and examine that
marvellous belt of vegetation, 50 admirably de-
scri5ed by the Commandsnt Dolilnian, which
enoircles the cone of the volcano, and marks
the point at which in general, the streams of
lava are arrested in their onward progress.
Our traveller unromsntic name was Fennel,
and he had along with him two friends, con-
siderably younger than himself-the one a
clergyman, and the other barrister. Two
servants not much accustomed to sojourn in
strange countries, rough Yorkshiremen, speak
ing their native dialect in perfection, and de-
fpising everything not English, waited upon the
triad of travellers; and, when they left Catania,
two guides were hired to conduct the party
through the labyrinth of woods, gorges, gens,
rayines and precipices which intercepts the as
cent to the crater, and renders it all times en-
terprise of considerable danger. .
For nearly week before they set out the
mountain had exhibited some symptoms of in
ternal unoasiness. Earthquakes passed like
gentle tremors beneath the city, not rocking or
heaving up the earth, not cracking the walls or
dismantling the houses, but Just giving a trem-
ulous motion to the pavement under your feet,
and at night causing the pillow under your
head to seem for an instant about to float away.
To the Catanians this was nothing they had
been used to it from the cradle. Their houses
nli stood upon the lava, were built with lava;
the detritus OF lava formed the very soil in
their gardens, and the fruits they ate had rich
lava relish. In some sense they were half lava
themselves; cold without, fiery within, feeling
much, rejecting little, always on the brink of
an empassiOned eruption, but kept from run
ming over, except at widely distant periods. by
the paucity of materials in their constitution.
Mr.. PenueI. trua RnVlishman Inyed N
see sights, and therefore longed for an erup-
tion; but the Catanians assured him he would
have to wait at least month in order to enjoy
that peculiar spectacle. He determined to
wait two months if necessary; but in the mean
time thought il would be pleasant aud interest
Ing to run up and get peep at the crater.
The wind blew strongly from the west, and
spun out the dusky smoke into long ribands in
the air. Once or twice in the night he thought
he could dstec: red sparks among the feruligi-
nous VapOr, which now and then increased
largely In volume, and issued from the breast
Of the mountain with something like deep
grunt. The young clergyman observed jOcu
larly that Enceladus Was snOrting or snoring
in his sleep. But the barrister, familiar with
the slang OF men about town, maintained that
there was row among the Titans, and that
Typheus, having got Mr. Encelsdus's head
into chancery, was pummellins him about the
mob, and making him to seek to deliver himself
with fierce putting and contOrtions Mr.. Fen
mel laughed at their absurdity, which he did
not even pretend to mistake for wit, and de-
termined to set out early in the evening to see
with his own eyes, as he expressed it, what it
was all about. At the hour appointed the mules
were ready and OF they went. To describe
what they saw, what they felt. what they
heard, what they thought, and what they said
would Ill volume OF 10 small dimensions
Sicily Is big, every inch of ii, with wonder: and
NO writer, so tar as | know, has succeeded in
conveying to au untraveied reader any idea Of
lts awe-Inspiring scenery. You know very we'll
that every step you take conducts you over un-
fathomsble CULTS Of fire, from which you are
separated only by thin crust, which may at
any moment crack and fall in. You know that
interminable beds of sulphur extend from the
great volcanic peak in unnumbeTed leagues
out beneath the sea, AMI that for thousands OF
years they have supplied fuel to that prodigious
fireplace whose chimney rises 10000 feet to-
wards the enpyrean. You feel pingliny with
the air you breathe the warmth Of that mighty
c0nAagratiOn which, forcing its way throughout
the earth and the rock, communicates a Iuxu-
urlanoe to every kind OF vegetation Unknown in
other parts of the world. But in oite of this
knowledge you are led, by the example of the
inhabitants, to put confidence in appearances,
and To imagine that those more stupendous
Phlegrean fields will continue safely for your
time TO hang floating over sUbterranean fires,
displaying their beauty and their sublimity
and coneealing altogether from the eye the fear
ful apparatus by which their splendors are pro-
dueed.
As everybody knows, the ascent Of Mount
1ttna Is not to be accomplished in an hour or
two. Ii you wish TO reach il by day-b break that
You may witness sunrise from its summit, you
must set out early the evening before. If your
mules are vigorous, you may perhaps find time
for a short nap, little after midnight and re-
commence the ascent about o'clock In the
case Of Mr.. Fennel and his companion, the
mules performed their part with great perse-
verance and fidelity. If you have travelled by
night In a mountainous and woody country, you
must know what an exciting thing it il; what
gulfs Of shadow you gaze at from time to time,
straining your eyes in vain to penetrate into
their depths; what towering precipices nod and
frown over you; what sounds, wild and start
ling, proceeding from you know not what cause,
come at intervals through the woods; and how
your heart beats with something very much
like fear, but yet not unmingled with pleasure
as you spring over chasms after the example of
your guide, and climb zigza, along the face of
ellis which seem inclined to cary you up higher
than Babel projected tower into the sky.
1t was already O'Clock when the guides,
who are perfectly despOtic during such under
takings pronounced II time TO halt and take a
little refreshment; after which, if so inclined
the whole party, they said, might sleep for two
hours, without running the least risk Of not
reaching the edge Of rhe crater by sunrise.
They dad halt, and while the servants were
klndling Ire with dried wood which lay about
In plenty, Mr.. Fennel amused himself with
looking do the vast sweeps Of the mountain
towards the sea. In that part Of the world no.
body appears To sit up late; and Mt the time to
which L now refer, the S;cilan cities had no
lamps. You consequently beheld nothing on
shore. save dusky irregularities descending and
undulating to the extreme verge of the shore.
But the sea, whom it bares It's breast to the
stars, has always faint glimmer diffused
over il. I
On the present occasion there were patches
OF phosphorescence which, like small luminous
isles, flashed and foatsd between you and the
Tarennne promontory. Science may dissipate
as IL pleases the mystery of these phenomena
but nothing can still that disquietude of the
heart with which you contemplate the waves
on fire, looking like so many gOw-worms sew
eral leagues In dimensions, floating leisu rely
away before the wind. From enjoying this
curious prospect Mr.. Fennel was called away