hree minor cones may be counted.
Hamilton counted forty-four, looking down from the summit towards
Catania, and Captain Smyth was able to discern fifty at once from an
elevated position on the mountain. Many of these parasitic cones are
covered with vegetation, as the names Monte Faggi, Monte Ilice, Monte
Zappini, indicate. The names have not been happily chosen; thus there
are several cones in different parts of the mountain called by the same
name--Monte Arso, Monte Nero, Monte Rosso, Monte Frumento, are the most
common of the duplicates. Moreover, the names have from time to time
been altered, and it thus sometimes becomes difficult to trace a cone
which has been alluded to under a former name, or by an author who wrote
before the name was changed. In addition to the minor cones from which
lava once proceeded, there are numerous smaller vents for the
subterranean fires called _Bocche_, or if very small, _Boccarelle_, _del
Fuoco_. In the eruption of 1669, thirteen mouths opened in the course of
a few days; and in the eruption of 1809, twenty new mouths opened one
after the other in a line about six miles long. Two new craters were
formed in the Val del Bove in 1852, and seven craters in 1865. The
outbursts of lava from lateral cones are no doubt due to the fact that
the pressure of lava in the great crater, which is nearly 1000 feet in
depth, becomes so great that the lava is forced out at some lower point
of less resistance. The most northerly of the minor cones is Monte di
Mojo, from whence issued the lava of 396 B.C., it is 11-1/2 miles from
the crater; the most southerly cone is Monte Ste Sofia, 16 miles from
the crater. Nearly all the minor cones are within 10 miles of the
crater, and the majority are collected between south-east, and west,
that is, in an angular space of 135 deg., starting midway between east and
south, (45 deg. south of due east) to due west, (90 deg. west of due south).
Lyell speaks of the minor cones "as the most grand and original feature
in the physiognomy of Etna."

A number of caverns are met with in various parts of Etna; Boccacio
speaks of the Cavern of Thalia, and several early writers allude to the
Grotto delle Palombe near Nicolosi. The latter is situated in front of
Monte Fusara, and the entrance to it is evidently the crater of an
extinct monticule. It descends for 78 feet, and at the bottom a cavern
is entered by a long shaft; this leads to a second cavern, which
abruptly descends