The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-04-13
CLIMBING MT. ETNA.
The Most Majestic and Fearful
Volcano of the Whole of
Europe.
Liquid Fires Poured Down on Sue
cessive Civilizations for
Many Cycles.

SC004t0 SAVAAACSOAOA0 xOX
Many Cycles.
Difficulties Attending an Ascent-Ex-
tortioners to the Right, Robbers to tho
Left, and Beggars ON All Sides.
CATAN1A, Sicily, March II, 1s9O.-One has
to resist the strongest possible temptation to
and Christian history of the eastern shore
of the island Of Sicily, or that portion ex-
tending from Messina at its northeastern
extremity past Catania, about midway be-
tween, to Syracuse, in a nearly direct north
and-south line, one can almost read the
history of the world. Exactly half way
between Messina and Syracuse, its summit
about the same distance from that part of
the Ionian sea known as the Strait of Mes
sina, MS it lies trife west of north of Cata-
MIA, stands that origin of countless mytho-
logic furies and incalculable actual destruc-
ton, the most majestic and fearful volcano
of all Europe, Mt. Etna.
From any of the tiny lava peaks in the
suburbs of Catania, within ones range of
vision the fancy can summon to their olden
places the myth-wraiths of Jove's most
powerful helpers, frowning from Etna's
smoky crest; theswraith of Empedocles wan
dering on Etna's side, clothed in purple
and bearing Delphic crown, five centuries
before Christ; of Dionysius, the elder, 200
years later, after destroying Naxos scaling the
beast to butcher its defenders; of the silver
tongued Alcibiades,do down there in the amphi-
theater, built between 400 and 500 years be-
fore Christ, which you can to-day see be-
meath ages of lava, enthralling the Catanians
with his loving speech, while the Athenians
were treacherously entering the city along
the shore. of the demigod warriors and phi
losophers flashing like meteors within the
scenes OF the Roman amphitheater, scarcely
less majestic than the Coliseum, whose
fragments still exist beneath the street Of
Slesichofos; of that old lawmaker We ought
creed that legislators should only make or
unmake, laws while standing with a halter
around their necl.s before the people, ready
for hanging. should their proposition fail to
prevail; of st. Paul fervidly preaching a
simple faith in simpler way than Chris
gressive creeds, down there among the lowly
upon the Ionian shore; away to the south the
| wraiths of countless hosts of invaders who
persisted upon the Catanian plains, once the
granary of the world, where Ceres, with her
own divine hands, sowed the first wheat
and taught men to till the soil: and beyond,
skirtiHs the Iopian blue, those myriad
wraiths of myths and humans that knew
| the birth, acme, decay, despair and destruc-
ton of that most magnificent of all
Hellenic cities. glorious, sad, transcendent,
pitiable Syracuse. For truly all this and a
of sense and thought, while the lightning
flashes of fancy course the realms Of myth
ology and history. There, at Etna,
Enceladus, bound beneath Jupiter's earthly
throne, turning upon his fiery bed every
century or SO, shakes the world with his
esntu4es Of storied sreasurs and sst is
buried beneath seas of liquid fire. Beyond,
at Syracuse, the noblest magnificence of
Greek achievement is crumbling be-
meath centuries of filth. The sea, the mo-
raises with their deadly miasnla, and the
ever threatening furies of Etna, alone re-
main. Resplendent civilizations are an
initiated. Etna roared, the seas engulfed,
the morasses swept hosts away. That was
2,5OO years ago. We say of that time, Su-
perstition was the mother of Mythology.
Let Etna roar, a tidal wave engulf, or
shrinking swamp breed a pestilence to girdle
the earth, more sodden superstition and
fatalism are here to accept the old, and Gre
ate new, bugaboos to-day. What ayailed
st. Paul's austerity, st. Peters benignancy,
or even that Christ was born, to such as
these?
gods, when vile beggars chase you from one
classic point to another, and alert and VEN
turesome feas, brave as another Italian
whose discoveries We are about to celebrate,
swarm over new worlds of conquest upon
your toothsome American anatomy? It is
impossible. And SO you see Catania with
eyes of to-day. Those view two or three
long, handsome streets WITH white facades
and towering domes. Back to the bay half
destroyed by lava, and, in the other direc-
ton, towards tiny peaks and luxuriant Wales,
run narrow lanes whose structures are low
and black. These are all built of lava
blocks. The streets are paved with lava,
fountains are carved from lava, floors are
tiled with lava, interiors are built from
lava, the very dishes one eats from are
turned out of lava, and the bread one gets
is hard, shiny and tasteless as lava itself.
consciousness of the source of destructive
ness and revivification bowling Etna is to
Catania, to its near cities, the dense popula
ton herding all about its base, and even to
smiling and exultant nature itself. Over
80 eruptions of Etna are of historic record.
Grafton or SO. These obliterate cities,
villages, the very face of nature. The
people RIM away and let the lava
cool. Then they come back and dig
out their homes, or cOmpoSedly cut blocks
from the handy subtance and build anew.
Where the old vineyards, olive and fig plant
atoms once were, new ones spring like mag
ic if the porous stuff be barely scratched by
pick or hoe for seeding places. Never will
the line
..O'er Death eternal Life is bloEsoming-"
come to you with such fash of forcefulness
as here.
Perhaps $4,000 souls exist in Catania
The palaces which border her principal
streets are very new, splendid and great;
perhaps the Biscaria Palace, which houses
vast stores of Greek sarcophagi, terra cottas,
vases and sculptures, excavated from the
lava, being the most imposing. Then there
is the Marina. where the lowly gather and
listen to the music of government bands, Il
filthy place much loved by the lazzaroni
But the Beliiui Garden. out on the heights
towards Etna, is surprisingly beautiful; and
in this you will SEQ military officials re-
splendent in uniforms and decorations,
lords and princes covered with insignia of
rank, all the really interesting aristocracy
of Catania, and truly the most winsome.
sou lfnl-eyed, empty-headed women of
Sicily. Of the Greco-K Roman remains the
theatre can be visited by the use of guides
and torches. The ancient Odeum is near;
and in Archebusiri street will be found
what is left of the Roman Amphitheatre.
Under the Piazza del Duomo, adjacent to
the great Cathedral are the Roman Baths;
bnt the best preserved specimens of these
are seen underneath the Carmeiite church.
where there still remain, in marble, the
vapor-bath, and the tire-room and the dis
robing-room. There are many medieval