Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-19
ON A CRATER'S VERGE
The Strange, Enhancing Spectacle
That ConfrOnts the Traveller,
GAZING INTO ETNA'S FIERY DEPTH.
An Almost Uncomfortable Impulse Inviting
Self-Destruction.
PERILOUS WALKS OVER LAVA BEDS

/ CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATcH.I
PALERMO, SICILY, March 30.-There
never came to me a sweeter or more perfect
sleep than that one upon the rough benches
of the halfruined Casa degli Englesi, on
the desolate plateau just beneath the great
| cone of Etna. Balbino, friend and guide,
said he would awaken me betimes and he
did. 1t was singular feeling to realize
where the night had been spent, as Balbino
assured me no one had ever been known to
pass an entire night at the weird retreat,
and to remember how, ii the death-dealing
volcano had once hiccoughed in those hours,
our Italian and American anatomies would
have blended with the fused elements and
aoated down to the cities and the sea, in
after years, to be worked over and sold as
lava relics to coming generations of tourists.
There was bright glow within the hut,
and still more wholesome aroma of cook
ing food, for ones appetite is ravenous in
these crisp, upper regions. Balbino had
brewed pot OF black coffee, roasted eggs in
the ashes beneath, and with our canteens of
wine and water, our fowl and bread-a COM
posIte of the -four wheat, corn and chestnuts
had spread tootnsome repast upon two
huge blocks of lava. 1t was 2 o'clock in the
morning when we had finished this, adjust
tunics, and after "banking" the little fire for
use on our return, stepped out into the cold
and singing air.
1.-The guides take the straneiro from the
Casa to the summit in an hour" said Bal
bino. "But that, with reproachful tone,
''ese maledetto. They do that to completely
exhaust them and add greater value TO their
pretentious services. We will go, a suo
belP agio, leisurely, like gentlemen, in two.
the ninfei (water lilies) are peeping from
the skyI'
TRAMPING OVER LAVA.
By the water lilies" the poetical Balbino
meant the stars. 1t was dark, very dark,
without. But the stars were more than
shining. They glowed, each like a topaz
bead pendant from canopy of velvet So
near they seemed, the impulse almost came
to lift ones staff in effort to touch them.
Against the side arc of such sky the black
| peak set like wall of onyx to be crashed
against at a steps advance.
See, there is the proof" he shortly
| added. "There are strangers, guides and
torcher lost in the Bosco. The party is try
ing to reach Etna for the sunrise. They
will not come as far as the Casa"
Turning saw far down the mountain a
half dozen flashes like bright fre-fies, now
swaying and waving, now lost behind the
mazes of oak, chestnut and lick, and again
leaping into view. They added weird
feeling of pursuit, as we pushed on, not
without many stumble and an occasional
fall. Before leaving the Casa we had wound
thongs of kid-skin about our trousers at the
ankles. My companion wore shoes; but
had pair of ofhonestly-made American boots
with legs reaching nearly to the knees, and
the soles well filled with stout hob nails, an
invaluable aid in climbing P1co in the
Azores, few months before. Balbino had
eyed these enviously, while binding a pair
of leather ieggings around the tops of his
shoes. Before we could have crossed the
plateau the ashes, grit, and loose scoria
would have cut to the flesh through ones
stockings without such protection.
Half way across the rock-strewn plain we
came upon traces of snow, and soon ice,
snow and disintegrated lava in strange piles,
where, after the wind had fercely tossed it
about, it had been banked in most fantastic
forms. We had trouble in some of these.
They were as slippery as shot. We would
climb upon our hands and knees over some
sharp hump of lava and fail of solid footing
on the otner size, frequently
SLIDING AND CRUNCHING OUT
of our way down startling declivities, only
to land waist deep in some of the shelly
pockets, or to be brought up with thud and
thump against some solid lava wall beyond
But in this wise, and without serious dis
com!orture or mishap, we crossed the bill
lowy masses and reached the base of the final
cone. To my eyes 1t seemed vast precipice,
interminable in height, absolutely insur-
mountable. And here the real struggle
began. never had more thorough admi
ration for physical agility than the thin lit
tie Sicilian now compelled. It seemed that
the wiry fellow had wings for unseen use
Uncoiling a slender leash, woven of hair and
much resembling a lariat, and leaving me
in possession OF one end below, he would ap-
pear to leap from point to point in the dark
ness above, until the line was taut, when,
with endless repetition OF soothing and reas-
surfing "Agevolmente!' ''gentilmentep'
(''easilyl-gentlyP') he would half draw me
to his own safe station of ascent. Now and
then we would find few yards of almost
level space. Again, the course would wind
about and between jagged, curling fringes
of lava, set there like convolutions of wave
crests whirled upon end and instantly con-
gealed. But everywhere were cinders, grit,
ice, snow, needle-poInted spears OF lava,
powdered sulphur, ashes, pitfalls, and worse
than all, the danger of dislodging the rock
Ing masses above us.
On several occasions We had barely passed,
and pushed our weight from treacherous
scales of mingled snow and scoria, when they
cracked away and went crumbling behind,
frequently dislodging other crusts and pro-
jections, when a combined crash and thun-
dering into the darkness would follow At
these times my own bravery would forsake
me, 1 am afraid, and would beg Balbino
for indulgio and rest. With the utmost
suavity the little old roll of bones ALWAYS
acceded; and, far above me, while my knees
beat the cinders from my trousers, and my
chattering teeth ratified like castinets, chirp
as a canary In the groves behind Catania,
this human mountain elve would rumina-
lively hum merry Sicilian canzione, now
and again letting few lively, though re-
spectfully modulGted, bars escape through
his not wholly unmusical nose.
ON THE VERGE OF THE CRATER.
Perhaps an hour and half was con-
sumed in this manner of climbing, when, on
being pulled up particularly precipitous
and ugly slope l stood On my feet beside
Balbino and, even before he had senten-
tiously uttered the one word "Trionfop' 1
saw the stars beyond jagged mass of black,
and was conscious that we were at last at
the very crater's edge. After cropping about
with the greatest caution for little, Bal
bino found an angle in the lava which
offered fairly good shelter. We crept into
this, huddled closely together, and, watch
ing the torches which still fickered far be-
low in the Bosco, or wooded region, waited
for the dawn. 1t was an eerie spot to rest.
1t seemed darker than when we left Casa
degli Englesi, nearly two hours before In
Vulnerable times in my life I had read
heard or thought the old saying about the