VISIT TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT ETNA.


_BY LIEUTENANT G.H.P. WHITE, ROYAL NAVY._


On the evening of the 13th of July, 1830, I set off from Catania with
a party of my messmates, to ascend Mount Etna, taking the necessary
guides, and two sumpter mules to carry the provisions, &c., as nothing
in that way can be procured after leaving Nicolosi, which is a small
village about twelve miles from Catania. Etna is divided by the
Sicilians into three several regions. The first is called Piè de
Montagna, the second Nemerosa, and the third Discoperta. The ascent,
though very gradual, commences immediately on leaving the city of
Catania, over a tolerably constructed road; the country around is
formed on an ancient volcanic soil; probably the third eruption
mentioned by Thucydides, which happened in the sixth year of the
Peloponnesian war, and the second of the eighty-eighth Olympiad.
Traversing the lands of Battianti, and St. Giovanni della Punta, the
road is constantly over the lava, and the country on either side is
delicious. Trecastagne, nine miles from Catania, is seated on the
acclivity of a high volcanic mountain. The scene here is beautiful
and picturesque. Near the principal church the view is most extensive.
Towards the east the mountains of Calabria, the sea stretching
from Taormina to Catania, bathing the sides of Etna, covered with
vineyards, woods and villages: northward rises the mountain itself,
surrounded by its progeny of pigmy mountains; these have been thrown
up in various forms, composed principally of cinders, and covered with