that of a pretty regular cone, covered
with vegetation, except near the summit. The regularity is broken on the
East side by a slightly oval valley, four or five miles in diameter,
called the _Val del Bove_, or in the language of the district Val del
_Bue_. This commences about two miles from the summit, and is bounded on
three sides by nearly vertical precipices from 3,000 to 4,000 feet in
height. The bottom of the valley is covered with lavas of various date,
and several minor craters have from time to time been upraised from it.
Many eruptions have commenced in the immediate neighbourhood of the Val
del Bove, and Lyell believes that there formerly existed a centre of
permanent eruption in the valley. The Val del Bove is altogether
sterile; but the mountain at the same level is, on other sides, clothed
with trees. The vast mass of the mountain is realised by the fact that,
after twelve miles of the ascent from Catania, the summit looks as far
off as it did at starting. Moreover, Mount Vesuvius might be almost
hidden away in the Val del Bove.

A remarkable feature of Etna is the large number of minor craters which
are scattered over its sides. They look small in comparison with the
great mass of the mountain, but in reality some of them are of large
dimensions. Monte Minardo, near Bronte, the largest of these minor
cones, is still 750 feet high, although its base has been raised by
modern lava-streams which have flowed around it. There are 80 of the
more conspicuous of these minor cones, but Von Waltershausen has mapped
no less than 200 within a ten mile radius from the great crater, while
neglecting many monticules of ashes. As to the statement made by Reclus
to the effect that there are 700 minor cones, and by Jukes, that the
number is 600, it is to be supposed that they include not only the most
insignificant monticules and heaps of cinders, but also the _bocche_ and
_boccarelle_ from which at any time lava or fire has issued. If these be
included, no doubt these numbers are not exaggerations.

[Illustration: Grotto delle Palombe]

The only important minor cone which has been produced during the
historical period, is the double mountain known as Monti Rossi, from the
red colour of the cinders which compose it. This was raised from the
plain of Nicolosi during the eruption of 1669; it is 450 feet in height,
and two miles in circumference at the base. In a line between the Monti
Rossi and the great crater, thirty-t