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                    ETNA.

   [Illustration: View of Etna from Catania]




                   ETNA

       _A HISTORY OF THE MOUNTAIN AND
              OF ITS ERUPTIONS._


                    BY

               G. F. RODWELL,

     SCIENCE MASTER IN MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE.

         WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

                [Illustration]

                    LONDON

   C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE

                     1878

[_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._]




          I  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK

                     TO

                 MY  MOTHER.




PREFACE.


While preparing an account of MOUNT ETNA for the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, I was surprised to find that there exists no single work in
the English language devoted to the history of the most famous volcano
in the world. I was consequently induced to considerably enlarge the
Encyclopaedia article, and the following pages are the result. The facts
recorded have been collected from various sources--German, French,
Italian, and English, and from my own observations made during the
summer of 1877. I desire to express my indebtedness to Mr. Frank Rutley,
of H.M. Geological Survey, for his careful examination of the lavas
which were collected during my ascent of the mountain, and for the
account which he has written of them; also to Mr. John Murray for
permission to copy figures from Lyell's "Principles of Geology." My
thanks are also due to Mr. George Dennis, H.M. Consul-General in Sicily;
Mr. Robert O. Franck, Vice-Consul in Catania; and to Prof. Orazio
Silvestri, for information with which they have severally supplied me.

G. F. RODWELL.

MARLBOROUGH,

_September 6th, 1878._




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF THE MOUNTAIN.                                         1

    Position.--Name.--Mention of Etna by early writers.--Pindar.--
    AEschylus.--Thucydides.--Virgil.--Strabo.--Lucretius.--Lucilius
    Junior.--Etna the home of early myths.--Cardinal Bembo.--Fazzello.--
    Filoteo.--Early Maps of the Mountain.--Hamilton.--Houel.--Brydone.--
    Ferrara.--Recupero.--Captain Smyth.--Gemellaro; his Map of Etna.--
    Elie de Beaumont.--Abich.--Hoffmann.--Von Waltershausen's _Atlas
    des Aetna_.--Lyell.--Map of the Italian Stato Maggiore.--Carlo
    Gemellaro.--Orazio Silvestri.


CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE MOUNTAIN.                              26

    Height.--Radius of Vision from the summit.--Boundaries.--Area.--
    Population.--General aspect of Etna.--The Val del Bove.--Minor
    Cones.--Caverns.--Position and extent of the three Regions.--
    Regione Coltivata.--Regione Selvosa.--Regione Deserta.--Botanical
    Regions.--Divisions of Rafinesque-Schmaltz, and of Presl.--Animal
    life in the upper Regions.


CHAPTER III.

ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN.                                         43

    The most suitable time for ascending Etna.--The Ascent commenced.--
    Nicolosi.--Etna mules.--Night journey through the upper Regions of
    the mountain.--Brilliancy of the Stars.--Proposed Observatory on
    Etna.--The Casa Inglesi.--Summit of the Great Crater.--Sunrise
    from the summit.--The Crater.--Descent from the Mountain.--
    Effects of Refraction.--Fatigue of the Ascent.


CHAPTER IV.

TOWNS SITUATED ON THE MOUNTAIN.                                 62

    Paterno.--Ste. Maria di Licodia.--The site of the ancient town of
    Aetna.--Biancavilla.--Aderno.--Sicilian Inns.--Adranum.--Bronte.--
    Randazzo.--Mascali.--Giarre.--Aci Reale.--Its position.--The
    Scogli de'Ciclopi.--Catania, its early history, and present
    condition.


CHAPTER V.

ERUPTIONS OF THE MOUNTAIN.                                      79

    Their frequency within the historical period.--525 B.C.--477 B.C.--
    426 B.C.--396 B.C.--140 B.C.--134 B.C.--126 B.C.--122 B.C.--
    49 B.C.--43 B.C.--38 B.C.--32 B.C.--40 A.D.--72.--253.--420.--812.--
    1169.--1181.--1285.--1329.--1333.--1371.--1408.--1444.--1446.--1447.--
    Close of the Fifteenth Century.--1536.--1537.--1566.--1579.--1603.--
    1607.--1610.--1614.--1619.--1633.--1646.--1651.--1669.--1682.--
    1688.--1689.--1693.--1694.--1702.--1723.--1732.--1735.--1744.--1747.--
    1755.--Flood of 1755.--1759.--1763.--1766.--1780.--1781.--1787.--
    1792.--1797.--1798.--1799.--1800.--1802.--1805.--1808.--1809.--1811.--
    1819.--1831.--1832.--1838.--1842.--1843.--1852.--1865.--1874.--
    General character of the Eruptions.


CHAPTER VI.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY OF THE MOUNTAIN.                        114

    Elie de Beaumont's classification of the rocks of Etna.--Hoffman's
    geological map.--Lyell's researches.--The period of earliest
    eruption.--The Val del Bove.--Two craters of eruption.--Antiquity of
    Etna.--The lavas of Etna.--Labradorite.--Augite.--Olivine.--
    Analcime.--Titaniferous iron.--Mr. Rutley's examination of Etna
    lavas under the microscope.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


    View of Etna from Catania                _To face Title._
    Topographical Map of Etna                 _To face page_           1
    Sections of Etna                                "                 30
    Grotto delle Palombe                            "                 36
    The Casa Inglesi and Cone of Etna               "                 52
    View of the Val de Bove                         "                 58
    View of Etna from Bronte                        "                 66
    Island of Columnar Basalt off Trezza            "                 74
    Geological Map of Etna                          "                114
    Map of the Val del Bove (woodcut)                                117
    Ideal Section of Mount Etna                                      119
    Profile of Etna                                                  121
    Sections of Etna Lavas seen under the Microscope, _to face p._   138

[Illustration: Topographical Map of Etna]




ETNA.

A HISTORY OF THE MOUNTAIN AND OF ITS ERUPTIONS.




CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF THE MOUNTAIN.

    Position.--Name.--Mention of Etna by early writers.--Pindar.--
    AEschylus.--Thucydides.--Virgil.--Strabo.--Lucretius.--Lucilius
    Junior.--Etna the home of early myths.--Cardinal Bembo.--Fazzello.--
    Filoteo.--Early Maps of the Mountain.--Hamilton.--Houel.--Brydone.--
    Ferrara.--Recupero.--Captain Smyth.--Gemellaro; his Map of Etna.--
    Elie de Beaumont.--Abich.--Hoffmann.--Von Waltershausen's _Atlas
    des Aetna_.--Lyell.--Map of the Italian Stato Maggiore.--Carlo
    Gemellaro.--Orazio Silvestri.


The principal mountain chain of Sicily skirts the North and a portion of
the North-eastern coast, and would appear to be a prolongation of the
Apennines. An inferior group passes through the centre of the island,
diverging towards the South, as it approaches the East coast. Between
the two ranges, and completely separated from them by the valleys of
the Alcantara and the Simeto, stands the mighty mass of Mount Etna,
which rises in solitary grandeur from the eastern sea-board of the
island. Volcanoes, by the very mode of their formation, are frequently
completely isolated; and, if they are of any magnitude, they thus
acquire an imposing contour and a majesty, which larger mountains,
forming parts of a chain, do not possess. This specially applies to
Etna. "Coelebs degit," says Cardinal Bembo, "et nullius montis dignata
conjugium, caste intra suos terminos continetur." It is not alone the
conspicuous appearance of the mountain which has made it the most famous
volcano either of ancient or modern times:--the number and violence of
its eruptions, the extent of its lava streams, its association with
antiquity, and its history prolonged over more than 2400 years, have all
tended to make it celebrated.

The geographical position of Etna was first accurately determined by
Captain Smyth in 1814. He estimated the latitude of the highest point of
the bifid peak of the great crater at 37 deg. 43' 31" N.; and the longitude
at 15 deg. East of Greenwich. Elie de Beaumont repeated the observations in
1834 with nearly the same result; and these determinations have been
very generally adopted. In the new Italian map recently constructed by
the Stato Maggiore, the latitude of the centre of the crater is stated
to be 37 deg. 44' 55" N., and the longitude 44' 55" E. of the meridian of
Naples, which passes through the Observatory of Capo di Monte.

According to Bochart the name of Etna is derived from the Phoenician
_athana_--a furnace; others derive it from ~aitho~--to burn.
Professor Benfey of Gottingen, a great authority on the subject,
considers that the word was created by one of the early Indo-Germanic
races. He identifies the root _ait_ with the Greek ~aith~ and the
Latin _aed_--to burn, as in _aes_-tu. The Greek name ~Aitna~ was
known to Hesiod. The more modern name, _Mongibello_, by which the
mountain is still commonly known to the Sicilians, is a combination of
the Arabic _Gibel_, and the Italian _Monte_. During the Saracenic
occupation of Sicily, Etna was called _Gibel Uttamat_--the mountain of
fire; and the last syllables of Mongibello are a relic of the Saracenic
name. A mountain near Palermo is still called Gibel Rosso--the red
mountain; and names may not unfrequently be found in the immediate
neighbourhood of Etna which are partly, or sometimes even entirely,
composed of Arabic words; such, for example, as _Alcantara_--the river
of _the bridge_. Etna is also often spoken of distinctively