The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-05-30
Sorrow in Sicily.
Mount Etna Becoming as Useless as an
Exploded Locomotive Boiler.
IN. Y. Times.1


Sicily belongs to free and United Italy, but
this is a small consolation now that the Island
is threatened with the loss OF travelling for
eigners. IL was Etna that drew the English
man, the Frenchman, the German, and the
occasional American to Sicily, but now the fa-
tai truth that Etna is cracked and will no
longer prove an attraction to foreigners has
been published by scientific journal.
Etna was undoubtedly the best vo' cano in
Europe Yesuvius is an excellent volcano for
its size and the Neapoitans have ma the
most OF it. The ernptlons Of Vesavius are fire.
qnent, and often they are really imposing. es-
pecially in the eyes of people who have never
seen a frat-class volcano. Almost every win
ter tiny stream of real lava can be found
flowing out of some crevice in the cone, and
the Neapolitan hotsl-keepers always assert
that tremendous eruption is close at hand.
Still, after all, Vesuvius is small affair, and
is not for a moment to be compared with tow
ering snow-clad Etna. |Stromboli is another
good steady volcano that is always blazing, and
were it situated where the hotel-keepers could
utilize it there is no doubt that it would be de-
servedly popular. But Ema is, or rather was,
Stromboli. 1t is mountain ncarly 10000 feet
III hight, and the view from its summit is
gfander than the view from any OF the sum
mits of the Alps. When il has an eruption
the best efforts OF Vesuvius are in comparison
as the bubbling of teakettle Its streams of
lava are miles in width, and are rivaled only
by tht Sc OF Kliauea Its earthquakes shake
Batania, Messina, and the lesser towns into
piles OF shapeless ruius, and its enormous cra-
ter could almost contain the entire mountain
of Vesuvius
Naturally, the Sicilians have been proud of
their unrivaled volcano. 1t has been their
chief source of income. The Cantanian ho.el-
Keepers have grown rich by taking in the way
fsrlng foreigner and helping him on his way
to the mountain. The rest of the population
OF Cantania has furnished him with donkeys
and hired itself to him as guides; and the peo-
pie OF the other parts of the island have laid
IN wait for him i'll the gloomy pine forests OF
Etna, aad enriched themselves with his clothes
and what little money the hotel-keepers and
donkey men may have overlooked. No Won
der the simple and honest Stellar loved his
mountain, and gratefully acknow edged ths
tourists whom it iured in,o his hands. 1t is
estimated that 10 less than 10000 families of
hotel-keepers. donkey-owlers, guides, and bri-
gands have annually derived their sole sup
port from tourists who visit Mount Etna. and
it is heart-bre liking to think of the misery
which stares thete people in the face now that
Etna Is apparently spoiled.
Not quite year ago there was every pros
pect that Etna was about to have a violent
eruption, and great business revival was an
ticipated by the industrial classes of Sicily.
On the 18th of May the mountain Suddenly
cracked, and vast iissure miles in length ap-
peared in one OF the sides. The preliminary
symptoms of eruption immediately ceased. The
mountain relieved itself of little mud, and
then ceased to growl shake, or give any other
signs of life. Experienced volcano engineers
have pronounced the opinion that, so long as
the crack remains open, it will be impossible
to get up pressure enough to produce an erup-
tion, and that in all probability the volcano
will llencetorth bo rs useless as An exploded
locomotive boiler