time for the next steamer to Naples is the
diligence which leaves here to-morrow. The mountain has been covered with
clouds for the last two days, and I have had no view at all comparable to
that of the morning of my arrival. To-morrow the grand procession of the
Body of St. Agatha takes place, but I am quite satisfied with three days
of processions and horse races, and three nights of illuminations.

I leave in the morning, with a Sicilian passport, my own availing me
nothing, after landing.

Chapter XXXI.

The Eruption of Mount Etna.

The Mountain Threatens--The Signs Increase--We Leave Catania--Gardens
Among the Lava--Etna Labors--Aci 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 AEtna, whose combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a singed bottom." Milton.

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
back terrace." The sun was not yet risen, but the east was bright with
his coming, and there was not a cloud in the sky. All the features of Etna
were sharply sculptured in the clear air. From the topmost cone, a thick
stream of white smoke was slowly puffed out at short intervals, and rolled
lazily down the eastern side. It had a heavy, languid character, and I
should have thought nothing of the appearance but for the alarm of my
hosts. It was like the slow fire of Earth's incense, burning on that grand
mountain altar.

I hurried off to the Post Office, to await th