The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-10-17
THE GULF OF FIRE.

You are wrong, captain, wrong
Old woman yonder,' and as the old
crone spoke, casting out her wrinkled
forefinger in token of disdain, towards
the lowland country at the ase of the
great spurs of Etns, she looked weird
and wild enough with her ragged gray
hair and fiery eyes, for the Sybil OF
Cuma-'old woman yonder, say may
not be worth listening to. But was
Graded up here in the very lap OF
ire!'
We'll, well, motherl' I answered
soothingly, 1 am far from doubling
your skill. In the three months of my
stay 1 have learned something of the
uncertain humors ofthe burning noun
tain, and. trust me, I'll not venture too
far from the safe track
Ah, Ingleesel You are just like
the rest of the young men, said old
Assunta, with somewhat of rude pity
III her tone, won't be warned! Had 1
not three bold sons2 Two were coral
fishers. One followed Garabaldi to
Naples and Gaeta. He. at any rate, is
laid in dry earth, as Christian should
be-not like Beppo and Totti. Have
a care that your grave be not hot
one' And with a wave of her hand
aud nod of her head, she was gone.
The old woman's words made an
impression on me which vainly tried
to shake of. Let nae explain how mat
ters stood. In the first place it was
only under the pressure of misfortune
that /, George Clements, lately second
efficer of first-rate clipper ship, had
becomes subinspector in the Royal
Sulphur Works on Mount Etna. NY
i'll luck had brought me there. In an
evil hour had been talked into in
vesting my savings-some two hund-
red ponnds-in becoming part owner
of Maltese vessel, on board of which
I was first mate, the skipper being q
Maltese named Antonia-a worthy old
fellow in his way, but obstinate as q
mule, and niggardly to great de.
gree. 5. ..5,.s-
So long az we met with average
weather our voyages were prosperous
and we netted dollars. But a three
days storm, a rarity in the Mediter-
ranean, sent us staggering, dismasted,
leaky, and with frightened crew,un-
der the cliffs of Sicily. was the one
Englishmau on board, and it was only
by the utmost exertions that 1 could
force the olive-skinned Southerners
to leave off telling their beads and in
voking the saints, and keep the pumps
going. AS it was, the schooner laid
her bones ON the beach near Catina,
and though no lives were lost the
wreck of property was complete. The
skipper aud relations in Malta who
would take him, but I, the English
mate, who now owned nothing but the
sailors suit l came ashore in, might
have starved, had not the British vice.
consul kindly recommended me for
the petty post l now filled, and which
insured me bare subsistence, and no
more.
These sulphur mines, from whence
comes by far the greater proportion
of the raw sulphur of commerce, have
always been a government monopoly,
like salt works or the tobacco factor
les. Indeed l have heard that King
Bomba, at a critical point of the Cri-
mean war, had thoughts of prohibit
ing the export of the Sicilian sulphur,
without which the powder mills Of
England could not furnish ammuni-
ton, aud the present rulers Of the is
land could not neglect such q source of
revenue. The collection Of the sui.
phur naturally deposited by the vol
canic forces, ever restless beneath the
soil, does not require much skill, but
the occupation is a toilsome and un-
healthy one, poorly remunerated, and
not always exempt from peril.
Sulhur gatherers are not, as rule
native Sicilians. The majority were
at the time of my sub-inspectOrship
immigrants from the main land, whose
antecedents it was perhaps quite al
we'll not to pry into. A fierce looking
set of sallow, ragged rufiins they were
with unkempt hair and boards, and
haggard faces innocent of the touch o
soap and water, always gambling, now
with pack of greasy cards, now, il
Neapolitan fashion, with dirty finger
uplifted, and quarreling as savagely
over infinitestimal stakes as though
fortune had been in jeopardy. Asfo
old Assunta, she was the widow of
charcoal burner, and still, with tn
help of her grandchildren, managed
to sell few loads of feul in the cit
below. Tie family, however, bore al
i'll repute for poaching, and, believe
sorcery, and am afraid that Assunt