The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-08-03

| source OF revenue. The collection OF the
sulphur, naturally deposited by the vol
canic forces ever restless beneath the
soil, does not require much skill, but
| the occupation Is toilsome and I'M
healthy one, poorly remurerative, and
not always exempt from peril.
Sulphur gatherers ate not, as q rule,
native Siciiians. The majority were at
the time of my sub inspectorship, i1nmi-
| grants from The mainland, whose ante
cedenta it was perhaps quite as well not
TO pry into. A fierce looking set of SD
low, ragged rufhans they were, with I'M
| kempt hair and boards, and haggard
] faces innocent of tho touch Of soap and
water, always gambling, now with Il
pack of greasy cards, now, in Neapolitan
fashion, with dirty fingers uplifted, and
| quarrellng rs savagely over infnitesimal
stakes as though a fortune had been in
jeopardy. As for old Assunta, she was
the widow of n charcoal burner, and
still, with the help of her grandchildren,
managed to sell few ass loads of fuel
in the city below. The family, however,
bore an i'll repute for poaclling, pilfer-
fering, and, I believe, sorcery, and am
afraid that Assuuta herself encouraged
this last report as a source of profit.
Her regard for me was merely due to
the fact that prevented some Of our
oh yTl1a vln of hot oh
was witch and had the evil eye, from
fiinging her, body and bones, into the
| wintry torrent that rushed roaring past
our huts, and ever since that day she
had been patronizingly polite to II Cap
tain, as she called me.
Mine was not, as sub Inspector, very
desirable position. The inspector, save
on pay day, did not often show himself,
and when he did visit the scene of his
nominal duties, would have been power
less to enforce any sort of discipline
amongst our black sheep, but for me.
BY the combined effects of coaxing, good
humored banter, and the occasional ar
gGment of knock down blow, [ had
contrived to establish some ascendancy
over the wild spirits around me, and was
rather popular than otherwise, although
at first my orders had been met with
scowling glances and lingering of knives.
The work to be done was none of the
pleasantcst. The crude sulphur, seldom
quite cool, and often glowing hot, had to
be raked with hoes and ircn hooks from
the brink of some of the numerous
small craters on the crest of the volcano,
in the midst of poisonous fumes and ed
dying clouds of smoke, showers of red
hot ashes, and even of stones.
1t was necessary to convey the sui
phur, when sufficient quantity had
been gathered, to the plains, along tracks
only fit for the goat OF the ill-fox, by
the aid of rude hand -barrows, or sledges
constructed of boughs, through dense
forests and over broken and Jagged
rocks.
Our huts were mere booths, hastily
built of logs and branches, and i'll fitted
to keep out the rough weather, the snow
hail and wind, which lash the bleak
heights Of Etna when the lower counu. Y
seems still to bask in it's golden sun
shine. The pay of the workmen was
small, enough to provide them with the
black bread, garlic and chestnuts, with
perhaps a Sunday repast of stock fish
or cells, on which the poor Of the far
South contrive to exist. Frugal as were
| their meals, however, coarse wines and
coarser spirits were somehow afforded
by them, and, as L have said, of gamb-
ling for 'sgrani,' or perhaps for a panni-
kin of fiery "aguardiente, there was no
stint.
I had been made somewhat uncom-
Portable by the half -enignatical words
of Assunta's warning. The part of the
mountain on which we were encamped
was clothed with thick forests of chest
nut and live oak, with here and there
barren track of scorim, spanned in places
y
a solid stone causeway, the remains Of
some ancient lava steam long cold.
Here were many small apertures, whence
arose jets of steam and puffs of smoke,
and around which Kissed and simmered
crust Of sulphur, heaving cracking
and glowing; of every color, from pale
oil 10
taras, AZ they were locally called, we
cleaned tie chief portion of the mineral,
for the sake Of which we passed our time
in such elevated regions.
Now it was only for some four or five
days that the old charcoal burners wild
ow had taken to uttering her half mys-
tic predictions of coming evil, and dur
ing that space I had myself observed
signs of greater activity than usual i'll
the volcano. The smoke was blacker
and more frequent. Kissing columns of
steam rose often into the air, and were
not seldom followed by volley of red
hot stones. The earth was in many places
so warm as to cause pain to the hand
that touched 1t, and in two instances the
brush-wood near our camp caught fire,
from the falling of heated ashes amid
the parched grass, and the fire was with
difficulty extinguished.
Without reposing unlimited faith in
Assunta's croakings, 1 was still of opin
ion that we should do better to remove
our temporary dwellings before the