Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-25
ETNA'S SUMMIT.


ETNA'S SUMMIT.
Famous Accents Of the Great Sicilian Volcano
Which IL Now in Eruption.
From the Philsdelphia telegraph
The story Of the ascent of the mountain from
whose summit Plato, In his serene and thought
full time, and Mr.. Gladstone, in our troublous
days. have, among many great men, in great
wonder, watched the sunrise, has q strong fas-
cination, because of its wide contrast, its stern
exaction Of strength and endurance and its SUI
preme, awe-inspiring reward, the realiza-
ton Of that which inspired the ancients
and the poets of the middle ages.
From the banana and the orange groves, from
the vineyards and the palms, through the seven
botanical regions into which the botanists have
divided the realm protected Of Persephone-
because ''among the billowy cornfields Of her
mother, Demeter, and the meadow flowers she
loved in girlhood are ever found suiphurous
ravines and chasms breathing vapor from the
pit Of hades"-to the snow-capped crust that
spreads for ten square miles between the awful
depth of unquenchable fire and the blue heaven,
that suddenly seems to be brought near, the
traveller mounts, with an ever-incressing sense
of the vastness beyond and around him.
When twelve miles of the ascent from Catania
have been accomplished the summit looks as far
off as ever. When Mr.. Rodweu made the as
cent In August, 1877, no rain had fallen in
Sicily for three months, and along the eastern
seabase Of the mountains the mean temperature
was SO degrees Fahrenheit. His starting point
was Catania; his first halt at Nicolosi, little
town consisting of one long street bordered by
one-storied cottages Of lava. Nicolosi has more
than once been shaken to the ground by earth
mule back, by no definite path, over vast
tract covered with lava and ashes, with here
and there patches of broom. The mules
know all about it and wise travellers trust
them as they deserve. While his mule bore
him unguided up the steep slope of the track
at the time Of the setting sun used his pocket
spectroscope. Around the district Of lava
and ashes lie forests Of small trees, and at q
height of 4,216 feet ia the Casa del Bosco,
where men in charge Of the woods live and
whence the start for quite the upper regions
OF the mountain-where cold SURPRISING that
OF the higher Alps has to be encountered-is
made. There, Mr.. Rodwell records, 'the air
was SO extraordinarily still that the fame Of
candle placed near the open door Of the house
did not flicker" At $500 feet the Regione
Deserta is entered. Lifelessness is all around.
Silence broods over the waste OF black sand,
ashes and lava; ants are the only living
creatures in the crater region. A little lower
down Spalfanzani found jays, thrushes, ravens,
kites and few cartridges. There was no moon
on the night on which Mr.. Rodwell made the
ascent; but as the desOlation deepened, and the
earth became more arid, and more void and
mute, the heavens ''took up the wondrous tale"
The stars, he says, ''shone with extraordinary
brilliancy and sparkled like particles of white
hot steel. have never before seen the heavens
studded with such myriads of stars. The Milky
Way shone like a path Of fire and meteors
flashed across the sky in such numbers that
soon gave up any attempt to count them. The
W NJ 20 h<v
when seen from the earth and more fat as if
only short distance above our heads, and some
OF the brighter stars appeared to be hanging
down from the sky"
A hundred years ago Brydone, beholding this
same wondrous spectacle Of lawful majesty and
were more struck with veneration than be-
lows" how they exclaimed together, "What a
glorious situation for an observatory! Had En-
pedocles had the eye of Calico what discoveries
must he not have made!' and how they re-
gfetted that Jupiter was not visible, as he was
persuaded they might have discovered some Of
his satellites with the naked eye at least with
a small glass which he had in his pocket. There
is every probability that next year will see an
observatory at the Casa Inglese, q small lava
house near the base Of the cone Of the great
crater, built by the English officers stationed
in Sicily in 1911.
At I:9O an, with the temperature at de-
welcome shelter Of the Casa Inglese, and rested
there until 8 am, whel the brighter stars hay
ing disappeared, he started for the summit of
the great crater, 200 feet above him. in order
to witness what Brydone calls 1.-The most WON
derful and most sublime sight in nature"
There was no strong wind; the traveller did not
suffer from the sickness of which travellers con-
stantly complain in the rarefied air Of the sum-
NIT. He reached the highest point at 4:4O, and,
cautiously choosing coolish place among the
cinders. sat down on the ground, whence steam
and sulphurous acid gas were issuing, to wait for
the sunrise: "AbOve the place where the sun
would presently appear there was a brilliant
red, shading off in the direction of the zenith to
orange and yellow; this was succeeded by pale
green, then long stretch Of pale blue, darker
blue, dark gray, ending opposite the rising sun
with black. This effect was quite distinct; it
lasted some minutes and was very remarkable.
This was succeeded by the usual rayed appear
ance and at ten minutes to the upper limb Of
the sun was seen over the mountains Of Gala
bria.''
So simply does Mr.. Rodwell record the
guerdon Of his toll for, as he says truly, no one
would have the hardihood to attempt to de-
scribe the impressions which are made upon the
mind while the eyes are beholding the sunrise
from the summit OF Etna. How greatly the
isolation Of the awful mountain adds to the in
communicable effect Brydone implies when he
dwells upon 1.-The immense elevation from the
surface of the earth, drawn, as 1t were, to sim
gle point, without any neighboring mountains for
the senses and imagination to rest upon and re-
cover from their establishment, in their way down
to the world" 1t must be q wonderful expe-
rience to turn from such contemplation to
gaze into the vast precipitous abyss Of the
great crater, even when it is quiet, as ON this
occasion. In 1888, when Mr.. Gladstone made
the ascent, the fire forces were in activity, and
he witnessed ''slight' emotion, involving such
tribes lava masses 200 pounds in weight
being thrown distance Of q mile and half,
and black column Of ashes being shot from
time to time out Of the uttermost depths Of the
crater far above its edge.
The minor craters look small in comparison
with the great mass Of the mountain, but in
reality some Of them are Of great size-as, for
instance, the double mountain, called "Monti
Rossi, from the red cinders that composed IL
and are richly covered with vegetation.
.g THE COURTS.
EoUIrY CoURr-Jssdge Hagner.
6aturday>-De Vaughn agt. De Vaughn; re-
ceiver authorised to EMPLOY coupsel to bring