CHAPTER XXXI.
THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT ETNA.
The Mountain Threatens — The Signs Increase — We Leave Catania — Gardens Among the Lava — Etna Labors — Act Reale — The Groans of Etna — The Eruption — Gigantic Tree of Smoke — Formation of the New Crater — We Lose Sight of the Mountain — Arrival at Messina — Etna is Obscured — Departure.
"the shattered side
Of thundering Ætna, whose combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a singed bottom."
Messina, Sicily, Monday, August 23, 1852.
The noises of the festival had not ceased when I closed my letter at midnight, on Friday last. I slept soundly through the night, but was awakened before sunrise by my Sicilian landlord. "O, Excellenza! have you heard the Mountain? He is going to break out again; may the holy Santa Agatha protect us!" It is rather ill-timed on the part of the Mountain, was my involuntary first thought, that he should choose for a new eruption precisely the centennial festival of the only Saint who is supposed to have any power over him. It shows a disregard of female influence not at all suited to the present day, and I scarcely believe that he seriously means it. Next came along the jabbering landlady: "I don't like his looks. It was just so the last time. Come, Excellenza, you can see him from the
