at last we had wound our way out
of the labyrinth, we found but little to enjoy in the city; tho from the
neighboring country we felt it impossible to part before sunset.
Infinitely beautiful was it to observe this region, of which every point
had its interest, gradually enveloped in darkness.

MOUNT AETNA[39]

BY WILL S. MONROE

By the ancients AEtna was supposed to be the prison of the mighty chained
giant Typhon, the flames proceeding from his breath and the noises from
his groans; and when he turned over earthquakes shook the island. Many
of the myths of the Greek poets were associated with the slopes of AEtna,
such as Demeter, torch in hand, seeking Persephone, Acis and Galatea,
Polyphemus and the Cyclops.

AEtna was once a volcano in the Mediterranean and in the course of ages
it completely filled the surrounding sea with its lava. A remarkable
feature of the mountain is the large number of minor cones on its
sides--some seven hundred in all. Most of these subsidiary cones are
from three to six thousand feet in height and they make themselves most
strongly felt during periods of great activity. The summit merely serves
as a vent through which the vapors and gases make their escape. The
natural boundaries of AEtna are the Alcantara and Simeto rivers on the
north, west, and south, and the sea on the east.

The most luxurious fertility characterizes the gradual slopes near the
base, the decomposed volcanic soil being almost entirely covered with
olives, figs, grapes, and prickly pears. Higher up is the timber zone.
Formerly there was a dense forest belt between the zone of cultivated
land and the tore of cinders and snow; but the work of forest
extermination was almost completed during the reign of the Spanish
Bourbons. One may still find scattered oak, ilex, chestnut, and pine
interspersed with ferns and aromatic herbs. Chestnut trees of surprizing
growth are found on the lower slopes. "The Chestnut Tree of the Hundred
Horses," for which the slopes of AEtna are famous, is not a single tree
but a group of several distinct trunks together forming a circle, under
whose spreading branches a hundred horses might find shelter.

Above the wooded zone AEtna is covered with miniature cones thrown up by
different eruptions and regions of dreary plateau covered with scoriae
and ashes and buried under snow a part of the year. While the upper
portions of the volcano are covered with snow the greater portion of the