Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-10-12

the last, mt'ments of our climb. In snits
or the toll of 1t, we soon got up the cone
AT il:20 We came suddeoly upon a Laval
| ano saw the smoke boiling nm from, haIo-
This was the summit. oo'0 We
| Antonio and had no opportunity for
tranquil realization of the elories of onr
situation In the frst place we could see
nolnlne put the dark impending edge of
| the crater at OR feet. A pace fartbsr
and we should have gone the wsy of Epi,
menides. Moreover, we had not well
taken our bearings. The wind was against
us, SO that the sulphur on the sumuit
blew in our teeth as il to stifie us, Snail
lanzani, in the like predicamsnt, for .
while lost his senses, and this on a dsy the
most propitious. Had we tsrried our fate
might have been more tragic. For though
the sulphur was bad, the bombarimept
from the depths was worse, At any in
slant Missile might have taken us. To
put the climax of discomfort upon ms
tnere came an admonitory thunder-clAp al
TO wake the dead, and at the same moment
q ssorm of snow and hail buffetsd ms hard.
We bent our heads before this variety of
Entertainment, and struggled towards
more sheltered quarter with I'll speed.
am much grieved that it WAS quite I'm
possible to measure the crater, even by
persmbulating Its boundaries. Antonio
profeesed auaazement at the changes which
had taken place since bis last ascent, about
year back. The gulf yaBned as of yore,
ont an internal ridge of cinders and mud
divided 1t into two parts. The crater thus
assumed the appearance of two craters,
and each seemed to vie with the other in |
Its out-throw of mud and stones, and in |
the height to which IL could lift its smoke. |
This latter, Notwithstanding the wind, rose
In agitated volutes Ave or ak hundred feet |
above our heads. But the upper air would |
have none of 1t, and 30 it was beat back /
upon us, and rushed down the slopes Of /
the cone, mingling with the hail and the
snow.
Our footing, as we strove to and fro on /
the brink, and tried in vain to see through
the noisome smoke, was very unpleasant.
We were on the mud outcsst that very
morning, and SO but a quarter concealed.
1t clogged our boots like new snow, and
there was, or seemed to be, some danger
that 1t might fail to support our weight,
and let us down heaven knows whittier.
Under these conditions it wss unwise to |
stand long in one spot. though, to be sure,
the turmoil of the elements and the cold
thermometer at thirty-eight degrees, with
a fierce wiDd) was another effectual bar TO
this. There was guch a shriekiDg of the
storm fiend, and such merciless whipping
of hail and snow upon our cheeks, and
such sitting malodor of sulphur, that,
while we stumbled along, we pivored
round and round in vain attempt at self
protection. How / envied Spallsnzani his
chance of sitting calm for two hours, note
book in hand, watching the crster's opera
tions at his feetI His artist has drawn a
curious and even thrilling picture of him
in this position. His two guides are seen
amusing themselves by throwing stones
into the crater, while be is depicted upon
his knees recording bis observations. Very
different, too, was the cra'er in his day
1t is shown as a tall cone, SO little out of
the perpendicular that 1t rather resembles
a chimney stack, and constructed by ma
ture after the mode called cyclopic. The
able had to Chamber up this wall of i'm
mense rocks, brought somewhat neatly into
a state of conference by the exusion from
within of a convenient mortar of molten
lava. L should much like to have seen the
party descend from their aerial perch.
Since SpslianZsni's time the pinnacle he
climbed has fallen in. Other pinnacles
have been appraised, and they also have
hsd their day. l. is tEis periodical change
IN the condguration Of E'ns's crater that
makes every ascent more or less journey
Of discovery. The crater tina. this year
seems about two miles in circuit may next
year, by the mountains activity in the
generation of new material be reduced to
one mile. And the year after the very
banks which have been built up to dimin-
lsh it may all collapse, and the gulf may
widen to a mile In diameter
Half an hour by the crater was enough
for Us. Antonio began to pirate about men
who had been done to death upon Etua,
With 40 earnest a tone that felt he feared
he like fate for us. The snow did not
,ease until we Were beneath the snow line.
We were knee deep eIe We had done with
t. But think the snow was preferable
% the torrents of rain which poured upon
Ia for all the rest OF the day, until we
we're again By Nicolosi.