, and appears to be continued into the heart of the
neighbouring Monti Rossi. Brydone says that people have lost their
senses in these caverns, "imagining that they saw devils, and the
spirits of the damned; for it is still very generally believed that Etna
is the mouth of Hell." Many of the caverns near the upper part of the
mountain are used for storing snow, and sometimes as places of shelter
for shepherds. We have already seen to what extent Lucretius attributed
the eruptions to air pent up within the interior caverns of the
mountains.

The surface of the mountain has been divided into three zones or
regions--the _Piedimontana_ or _Coltivata_; the _Selvosa_ or _Nemorosa_;
and the _Deserta_ or _Discoperta_. Sometimes the name of _Regione del
Fuoco_ is given to the central cone and crater. As regards temperature,
the zones correspond more or less to the Torrid, Temperate, and Frigid.
The lowest of these, the _Cultivated Region_, yields in abundance all
the ordinary Sicilian products. The soil, which consists of decomposed
lava, is extremely fertile, although of course large tracts of land are
covered by recent lavas, or by those which decompose slowly. In this
region the vine flourishes, and abundance of corn, olives, pistachio
nuts, oranges, lemons, figs, and other fruit trees.

The breadth of this region varies; it terminates at an approximate
height of 2000 feet. A circle drawn with a radius of 10 miles from the
crater, roughly defines the limit. The elevation of this on the north is
2,310 feet near Randazzo; on the south, 2,145 feet near Nicolosi; on the
east, 600 feet near Mascali; and on the west, 1,145 feet near Bronte.
The breadth of this cultivated zone is about 2 miles on the north, east,
and west, and 9 or 10 on the south, if we take for the base of the
mountain the limits proposed above.

The _Woody Region_ commences where the cultivated region ends, and
extends as a belt of varying width to an approximate height of 6,300
feet. It is terminated above by a circle having a radius of nearly 1-1/2
miles from the crater. There are fourteen separate forests in this
region: some abounding with the oak, beech, pine, and poplar, others
with the chestnut, ilex, and cork tree.

The celebrated _Castagno di Cento Cavalli_, one of the largest and
oldest trees in the world, is in the Forest of Carpinetto, on the East
side of the mountain, five miles above Giarre. This tree has the
appearance of five separate trunks u