The crater presents the appearance of an inverted cone, the interior
part of which is covered with crystallizations of salts and sulphur,
of various brilliant hues--red appeared to predominate, or rather
a deep orange colour. Writers vary much in their accounts as to
the circumference of the crater. Captain Smyth, R.N., who had an
opportunity to ascertain it correctly, describes it as an oval,
stretching from E. and by N. to W., and by S. with a conjugate
diameter of four hundred and ninety-three yards; the transverse he
was prevented from ascertaining by a dense cloud that arose before his
operations were completed. It was soon requisite for us to retire from
this spot, as the smoke began to increase, and our guides said that
some adventurous travellers had lost their lives by approaching too
near, and were either blown into the abyss below by the violence
of the wind, which is generally very strong at this elevation, or
suffocated by a sudden burst of the sulphureous vapour.

The Regione Deserta, or desolate region of Etna, first attracts the
eye, marked in winter by a circle of ice and snow, but now (July)
by cinders and black sand. In the midst the great crater rears its
burning head, and the regions of intense heat and extreme cold shake
hands together. The eye soon becomes satiated with its wildness, and
turns with delight on the Sylvana region, which, with its magnificent
zone of forest trees, embraces the mountain completely round: in many
parts of this delightful tract are seen hills, now covered with
the most luxuriant vegetation, that have been formed by different
eruptions of Etna. This girdle is succeeded by another still richer,
called the Regione Culta, abundant in every fruit or grain that man
can desire: the small rivers Semetus and Alcantara intersect these
fertile fields; beyond this the whole of Sicily, with its cities,