The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-06-21
THE GULF OF FIRE.

"You are wrong, captain, wrong
spoke, c,sting out her wrinkled fore
finger, in token of disdain, toward tho
lcwland country at the base of the great
spurs Of Etra, she looked weird and
wild enough, with her ragged gray hair
and fiery eyes, for the Sibyl of Cuma-
cold women yonder, I say, may not be
worth listening to. But I was cradlcd
up hero in the very lap of fre."
"Well, we'll, mother" I answered,
soothingly; "I am far from doubtine
your skill. In the three months of nv
stay have learned something of the ur-
certain hulnors of the burning noun
tain, and, trust me, I'll not venture too
far from the safe track"
"Ah, Inglesel You are just like the
rest of the young men," said old As,
sunta, with somewhat of rude pity in
her tone "won't be warned Had
not three bold sonsl Two were coral
fishers. One followed Garihal.ii to
Naples and Gaeta. He, at any rate, is
laid in dry earSh-no. like Beppo and
Totti. Have II care lest your grave be
not q hot cnci" And with Il nod of her
held and wave Of her hand size was
gone.
preston on me which / vainly tried to
shake OFF. Let me explain how matters
stood In tho first place it was only
under the pressure of misfortune that I,
George Clements, lately second officer of
a hrst-rate clipper ship, had become n
sub inspector, or moro correctly, an act
ing sub-inspector, in the sulphur works
on Mount Etna. My ill luck had
brought me there. In an evil hour I
had been talked into investing my
savings-some two hundred pounds
in becoming part owner of Maltese
coasting vessel, on board of which was
mate, the skipper being Maltese named
Antonia, worthy old fellow in his way,
but obstinate as a mule and niggardly
to a degree.
So long rs VIC met with average
weather our voyages were prosperous
and we netted dollars. But three days
storm, a rarity in the Mediterranean,
sent us staggering, dismasted, leaky,
and with frightened crew, under the
cliffs of Sicily. 1 was the one English
man on board, aud it was only by the
utmost exertions that could force the
olive skinned southerners to leave off
telling their beads and invoking the
saints, and keep the pumps going. AS
it was, the schooner laid her bones on
the beach near Catania, and though no
lives were lost the wreck of property was
complete. The skipper had relations in
Malta who would take him in, but I, the
English mate, who now owned nothing
but the sailors suit I came ashore in,
might have starved, had not the vice
consul kindly recommended me for the
petty post l now filed, and which in
sured me q bare subsistence, and no
more.
These sulphur mines, whence comes
by far the greater proportion of the raw
sulphur of commerce, have always been
q government monopoly. Indeed l
have heard that King Bomba, at criti-
cal point of the Crimean war, had
thoughts of prohibiting the export of
the Sicilian sulphur, without which the
powder mills of England could not
furnish ammunition, and the present
rulers of the island could not neglect
such a source of revenue. The collec-
tion of the sulphur naturally deposited
by the volcanic forces, ever restless be-
meath the aoil, does not require much
and unhealthy one, poorly remunerated,
and not always exempt from peril.
Sulphur gatherers are not, as O rule,
native Siciians. The majority were, at
the time of my sub-inspectorship immi-
grants from the mainland, whose ante
cedents it was perhaps quite as well not
to pry into. A fierce looking set of sal
low, ragged ruffians they were, with
unkempt hair and. boards, and haggard
faces innocent of the touch of soap and
water, always gambling, now with pack
OF greasy cards, now, in Neapolitan
fashion, with dirty fingers uplifted, and
quarreling as savagely over infinitesimal
stakes as though fortune had been in
jeopardy. AS for old Assupta, she was
the widow Of charcoal burner, and
still, with the help of her grandchildren,
managed to sell few loads of fuel in
the city below. The family, however,
bore an ill repute for poaching, pilfer-
ing, and, L believe, sorcery, and I am
afraid that Assunta herself encouraged
this last report as source of profit.
Her regard for me was merely due to
the fact that had prevented some of
our rough workmen, who insisted that
she was witch and had the evil eye,