Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-04-12
HILARY.
MIR. wAKEMAN's JOURNEY1NG.

MIR. WAKEMANsS JOURNEYINGS.
At Catania-Lava Peaks-Syracuse-
White Facades and Towering Demes
at Catania-The AIcantara River
Etna-The Mountain Village OF Nic-
oIosi-Some of Its Features-The
Ways of its People-The Charcoal
Burners.
CArAN1A, Sicily, March II.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
One has to resist the strongest possible
temptation to classic musings at Catania.
In the pagan and Christian history of the
eastern shore Of the island of Sicily, or that
portion extending from Messina at its north
eastern extremity past Catania, about mid
way between, to Syracuse, in 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 Messi-
nj, as it lies a trifle west Of north of Catania,
stands that origin of countless mytholegic
furies and incalculable actual destruction,
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 pow
erful helpers, frowning from Etna's smoky
crest; the wrath of Empedocles wandering
on Etna's side, clothed in purple and bear
ing Delphio crown, five centuries before
Christ; of Dionysius, the elder, two hun-
dred years later, after destroying Nsxos seal
ing the walls of little Mola above, like fs-
rocious beast to butcher its defenders; of the
silver tongued Alcibiades, down there in the
hundred years before Christ, which you can
to-day see beneath 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 philosophers flashing like me-
teors within the scenes of the Roman amphi-
theater, scarcely less majestic than the Coli
scum, whose fragments still exist beneath
the street Of Slesichoros; of that old lawma-
ker we ought to have at Washington, Cha
rondas, who decreed that legislators should
only make, OF unmake, laws while standing
with halter around their necks before the
people, ready for hanging, should their pro-
positions fail to prevail; of st. Paul fervidly
preaching simple faith in a simpler way
than Christianity now enforces its unyield-
ing and aggressive creeds, down there among
the lowly upon the Ionian shore; away to
the south, the wraiths of countless hosts of
invaders who perished upon the Oatanian
plains, once the granery of the world, where
Ceres, with her own divine hands, sowed the
first wheat and taught men to till the soil;
and beyond, skirting the Ionian blue, those
-sol he oe kho ov1 hr1Yyo hot
knew the birth, acme, decay, despair and de-
struction of that most magnificent of all
Hellenic cities, glorious, sad, transcendent,
pitiable, Syracuse. For truly all this and a
thousand fold more are seen with the eyes of
sense and thought, while the lightning FASH
es of fancy course the realms of mythology
and history. There, at Etna, Enceladus,
bound beneath Jupiter's earthly throne,
turning upon kis fiery bed every century or
Here, at Catania, twenty centuries of storied
treasure and art lie buried beneath seas of
liquid fire. Beyond, at Syracuse, the noblest
magnifcence of Greek achievement is crum.
bling beneath centuries of filth. The sea,
the morasses with their deadly miasma, and
the ever threatening furies Of HGtna, alone
remain. Resplendent civilizations are ami
hilated. HGtna roared, the seas engulfed,
the morasses swept hosts away. That was
twenty-five hundred years ago. We say of
that time superstition was the mother of my
thology. Let Htna roar, tidal wave en-
gulf, or sinking swamp breed a pestilence
to girdle the earth, a more sodden aupersti-
tion and fatalism are here to accept the old,
and create new, bugaboos to-day. What
availed st. Paul's austerity, st. Peters be-
nignancy, or even that Christ was born, to
such as thesei
But how can you long continue with the
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 anatomyi 1t 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, shi-
ny and tasteless as lava itself. You can
never get away from . constant conscious
ness Of the source of destructiveness and re-
vivi6cation bowling Etna ia to Catania, to
Its near cities, the dense population herding
all about it's base, and even to smiling and
exnltant nature itself. Over eighty erup-
tions Of Etna are of historic record. It
spews out rivers of liquid fire every genera
tion or 30. These obliterate cities, villages,
the very face of nature. The people run
away and let the lava cool. Then they come
back and dig cut their homes, or composedly
cut blocks from the handy substance and
build anew. Where the old vineyards, olive
and fig plantations once were, new ones
spring like magic If the porous stuff be
barely scratched by pick or hoe for seeding
| places. Never will the line
! ''o'er Death eternal Life is blossoming''-
/ come to you with such fash Of forcefulness
as here.