West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-06-28
Etna.

Etna presents all the climates of the
globe The lower zone, which attains a
height of about 5000 feet, il beautihtd
10y the most luNuriant vegetation, such as
the tropical and moderate zones afford Ii
Is, indeed, the richest land of 'Nolive and
aloe and maize and vine to he found upon
the face of Europe. Laughing little towns,
white, prosperous. and glecful and dreary
Norman castles, abound all over the region.
mingled with strcaks of black lava. and in
terrupted 10y gardens filled with orange
trees, tg trees and oleanderS The middle
zone, or Wood Region" belts the noun
tain To a height of nearly 1000 feet, and
though not 50 richly shaded as i'm former
times, II richly deserves the name of sylvo-
Sa, which 1t received from the aucieuts
The eruption of the 50 called "BoChcrelc
del Fooco, IN 1866, destroyed over mil
lion oaks of the most beautiful growth ON
the southern side of the mountain Above
this the desert begins; the four hundred and
sevcnty-Seven species of which the flora of
the Etnean woods is composed thin down
10 about eighty, thirty of which are lichcns
belonging To the glacial zone. The upper
portion of the mountains is i'm fact, a vas,
wilderness where fire alone contends for
supremacy with the snow that, almost the
sides of the main cone. lie who has not
seen the sun rise from the top of Etna, has
great deal to learn about the immensity
and beauty of nature. just as the sun rises,
an immense shadow of the most exquisite
purple is projected from the volcano half
over the island, while without it's range the
light strikes with magic suddcncss upon
the tops of the mountains below. The
range OF the view is almost boundless. -
Catania, Syracuse and even Malta; the
lyrrenian, the Zonian and the African
seas, are visible, Castro Giovanni stands up
on its rock, conspicuous in the centre of the
island, while the distant Appcnincs of Ca
labria and Apulia, and the entrance of the
Faro of Messina, with the medieval towns
of Reggie and Pizzo, appear i'm the far east,
seemingly but "A mile distant The crater
presents itself as real valley, profound,
uneven, with hOlows and promontories
formed by masses of lava that have rolled
IN all directions ever encroaching upon one
another. The walls of the crater are let
black and steel gray in color, intcrsperscd
with the most beautiful BLUSH, reddish,
greenish and golden veins A gravelike 81
lcncc usually prevails A thousand smoke
stacks noisclcssly emit long trails of white
vapors that go slowly to break against the
sides of the crater. Over two hundred
cones of various heights, most of them re-
gular in form and all having a reversed
coneike funnel at their summit, are scat
tered over the woody region as the "Plano
del Lano, the plateau from which the
main cone arises. These minor cones that,
like huge parasites, cover the mountain
sides, are all of very ancient origin, with
the exception of the Monti Rossi, which
sprang up in 1869, and were the outlets of
the terrible eruption which came near bu-
rying Catania. II is very rare occurrence
that the main crater is not aided by some
OF these auXiliaries in its work of destruc-
tlon-hencc the fears that are now enter
tanned, especially as regards the villages on
the northern side, such as Randazzo, Cas-
tlghOne and PlcdmOnte An enormous
portion Of the woods overhanging these viii
lagos was destroyed by singular event in
the year l755. In the eruption OF that
year, which threatened the eastern slopes
OF Etna, an immense torrent Of boiling
water issued seemingly from the great
crater, and in an instant poured down to
its base on the north, overwhelming and
destroying everything in its course. Some
traces of this torrent are still visible,
though the locality has recovered vcgcta-
tion and verdure. IL was probably caused
by the melting Of some glacier that did not
resist the immense heat emanatiug from the
main cone The eruption of 1863 covered
six square leagues with lava, at some points
one hundred feet thick, and destroyed
the dwellings Of nearly 27, 900 people.