West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-04-12
Mount Etna.

To get notion Of the size OF the
most famous of volcanoes, as il rises.
solitary IN grandeur, with the great
sweep Of tho Alcantaa and Simeto
valleys between IL and the mountain
ranges of the SiCilian coast ON either
side, the unsCiCntihc mind, TO which
measurement Is meaningless, will resort
To the aid of Professor Jukcs, who tells
Us, If we were to put Snowdcu. the
highest mountain i'm Wales. on the ton
of Ben Nevis. the highest in Scotland,
and Cdrrantuohill, the highest i'm ireland,
on the summit of both, we should make
mountain but u vorY little higher than
Etna; and we should require 60 heapup
great number Of other mountains
round the fanks of our new one, IN
order TO build a gentle, sloping pile,
which should equal Etna i'm bulk" Its
majestic height is, however, less inn
posing TO the imagination than its vast
oXtcnt, for Ii Monte" has nm area of
four hundred and sixty.two square
miles. Two cities, Cdtania and Aci
Realc, and siXty-two small towns, cluster
upon the slopes of the awful mountain,
whose entrails are fire, and whose breath
is flame and lightning Nine miles
beneath the crcter, which is one thous.
and feet in depth, three miles in width
at was rent anew into great lissurcJ 10y
the last eruption), the habitablo zone |
commences, and is tenanted by three
hundred thousand souls. Only the
Val del Bovc, commencing two miles
from the summit, where Sir Charles
Lyell believed their formerly existed
center of permanent eruption, is
altogether sterile now; the other sides
of the mountain are clothed with tICes
at the same level. And such trees
Fourteen separate forests form the
Regione Selvosa, and they abound with
the oak, beech, pine and poplar, with the
chestnut the lex. and the cork tree
MaTiposa and Calaveras can not beat the
" "Castagna di Cento Cavalli" in the
forest of Carpinetto, ON the cast side of
the mountain in whose trunk, through
which the public road now passes,
queen of Arragon once took shelter,
with a suite of one hundred horscmcn,
The Rcgione Coltivata, whose soil
consists of decOmposcd lava, is lavishly
fruitful; of the three regions, of which
the Deserta has the most powerful
charm for the Imagination, Brydone
says: Besides the corn, the wine, the
oil, the silk, the spice, and delicious
fruits OF its lower region; the beautiful
forests, the focks, the game, the tar the
cork, the honey of its second the snow
and ice Of its third-it affords from it's
caverns variety of minerals and other
productions, cinnabar, mercury, sui.
phur, alum, nitTe, and yitriol so that
this wonderful mountain, at the same
time, produces every necessary and
every luxury of life" How greatly .he
isolation of the awful mountain adds 10
the incommunicable effect Brydone i'm
plies, when he dwells upon "thc
immense elevation from the surface of
the earth, drawn. as il were, to single
point, without any neighbOring noun
tains for the senses and imagination to
rest upon and recover from their aston
ishment, in their way down to the
world" 1t must be n wonderful expert
onCe 10 turn from such Il contemplation
70 gaze into the vast, pTecipitous abyss
OF the great crater, even when it is quiet,
as on this occasion. Ina 1888 when Mr.
Gladstone made the ascent, the fire.
forces were in activity, and he wit
messed "slight eruption, involving
such triiles M lava masses two hundred
pounds in weight being thrown n
distance Of a mile and half, and a
black column of ashes being shot from
time TO time out Of the uttermost depths
Of the crater far above its edge.
The minor craters look small in com
parison with the great mass of the
mountain, but in reality some of them
are of great size-as, for instance the
double mountain, called Monti Rossi,"
from the red cinders that compose it.
and are richly covered with vegetation
Seventy-eight eruptions are recorded
since Etna has had a history, the earliest
in the time Of PythagoTas, the most
recent in 1874 Of these, not more than
nineteen have been Of extreme violence,
while the majority have been Of n slight
and comparatively harmless character.
The ancient immortal, One.eyed giant
keeps up the character of the race for
good nature.