Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-06-18
CHAPTER X.
THE CASA DEGLI INGLRSI.


completed their preparations to go
ashore.
The gig received its passengers but
before he left the Doctor ordered Cap
tain Kostiik to watch for the arrival of
Electric No. ,, then hourly expected,
and to So d her ont beyond the Farrig-
lionis, otherwise known rs the rocks of
PolyphemuS II the plan succeeded, if
Sarcnny or even Zironc and Carpena
were taken prisoners the launch would
be ready to convey them to Antekirtta,
where he would have them in his
power.
The gig put Off in II few minutes
it reached the steps at the wharf.
Doctor Antekirtt and Pierre had
assumed the usual dress of tourists
ascending the mountain, who may have
to endure temperature of fourteen
degrees below freezing, while mt the sea
level it stands ut fifty degrees above
that point A guide was in waiting with
the horses, which at Nicolosi were to be
replaced by mules as more untiring and
surer of foot.
The town of Catania is of little width
compared to its length and was soon
crossed. Nothing occurred to show that
the Doctor was watched and followed.
Pierre and he, after taking the Belvi-
dere Road, began to ascend the earlier
slopes of the mountain to which the
Sicilians give the name of Mongibello,
and of which the diameter Is not less
than twenty-five miles.
The road is uneven and winding; it
turns aside frequently to avoid the lava
streams and basaltic rocks, solidified
millions of years ago the dry ravines
filled in the spring time with impetuous
torrents and on its way it cuts through
well-wooded region of olive trees,
orange trees, carob trees. ash trees and
long branched vines. This is the first
of the three zones which grid the vol
cano the mountain of the smithy,"
the Phnnician translation of the word
Etna the spike OF the earth and the
pillar of the sky for the biologists of an
age when geological science did not
exist.
After n couple of hours climbing and
by the horses than the riders the Doc
tor and Pierre beheld ut their feet the
town of Catania, the superb rival of
Palermo They could look down on the
lines of its chief streets running parallel
to the quays, the towers and domes of
its hundred churches, the numerous
and picturesque converts and the
houses in the pretentious style of the
seventeenth century all enclosed in the
belt of green that encrcles the city. In
the foreground was the harbor, of which
Etna itself formed the principal walls
in the frightful eruption of 1869, which
destroyed fourteen towns and villages
and claimed Is, 600 victims, and poured
out over the country more than mil
lion cubic yards Of lava.
Etna is queter now and it has well
earned the right to rest. In fact there
have been more than thirty eruptIons
since the Christian era. That Sicily
has not been overwhelmed is sufficient
proof of the solidity of its foundation.
1t should be noted, however, that the
volcano has not formed permanent
crater 1t changes as 1t pleases. The
mountain falls III where one of the fire.
vomiting abysses opens, and from the
gap there spreads the lavic matter accu-
mulated on the flauks. Hence the
numerous small volcanoes the Monte
Rossi, double mountain piled up III
three months to height of four hun
dred feet by the sands and scoria of
1862 Frumento, Simoni, Stornello,
Crisinco, arranged like the turrets
around n cathedral dome to say moth =
ing of the craters of 1909, 1911. 1919.
1888, 1852 1865. 1915, whose tunnels
perforate the TANKS of the central conc
like the cells of a beehive.
After crossing the hamlet of Belvidere
the guide took short cut so us to reach
Kamertieri road near that from Nicolosi
The first cultivated zone extends almost
from this town to two thousand one
hundred and twenty feet above. Ii was
nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when
Nicolosi appeared, and the travellers
had not met with a single adventure
along the nine miles from Catania and
seen neither bears nor wolves. They
had still twelve and half miles to 90
before they reached the Casa Degli
Inglesi.
How long will your excellency stop
here?" asked the guide.
"No longer than necessary, answered
the Doctor " let IT'S get in tonight about
nine o'clock"
Forty minutes, them"
Forty minutes be it
And that was enough to procure q
hasty meal in one of the two inns of the
town, which-be it said to the honor of
the three thousand inhabitants of Nico-
losi. including the beggars who swarm
in it-has rather better culinary repu-
tation than most Sicilian inns
A piece Of kid, some fruit, raisins,
oranges, and pomegranates, and San
Placido vino from the environs OF
Catania-there arc very few more inn
portant towns in Italy in which an inn
keeper would offer - much.