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raged in this manner about fifteen days, the eruption entirely ceased.

It has been observed that though Mount Vesuvius often fills the neighboring country with terror, it contributes to the fertility of the soil, and the profusion of fruit and herbage with which it is covered. This fertility is caused by the heat of the buried fires, and the quantities of sulphur and saltpetre thrown out from the volcano.

Experience proves that earthquakes, after any continued eruptions of Vesuvius, are neither so frequent, nor so fatal as at other times. From this circumstance, the inhabitants are not at all alarmed by them, except when they are violent. The air is so far from being rendered impure by them, that Barra, a village at the foot of Vesuvius, near the sea, is remarkable for its healthfulness.

To these advantages, it may be added that the lava, on its cooling, forms solid masses, surpassing even marble in hardness; from which tables, chimney-pieces, and ́even snuff-boxes are sometimes made. With this matter, the cities of Naples and Rome are paved; as are also a great part of the ancient Roman highways.

MOUNT ETNA.

This famous mountain is on the eastern coast of Sicily. It rises more than ten thousand feet above the surface of the sea; and it is one hundred and eighty miles round its foot. On its sides are about seventy cities, towns and villages, containing over an hundred thousand inhabi

tants.

The whole mountain is divided into three distinct regions, the fertile, the woody, and the barren. The fertile region is much broader than the rest, and extends on all sides from the foot of the mountain through an ascent of from twelve to eighteen miles. Terrible ravages are sometimes committed here by the eruptions. The city of Catania is situated in this region, which is rich in pastures, orchards and various kinds of fruit trees. The figs and fruits here are considered the finest in Sicily.

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The woody region extends from eight to ten miles, in a direct line towards the top of the mountain. It forms a circle of beautiful green all round the mountain, finely contrasting with the white and snow-clad summit. It abounds in oaks, beaches and firs; and the air is cool,

and perfumed by the fragrant shrubs with which the whole ground is covered. Many parts of this region are exceedingly delightful.

The upper, or barren region is marked out by a circle of snow and ice; which extends on all sides to the distance of eight miles. Its surface is for the most part flat, and the approach to it is marked by the decline of vegetation, and by uncovered rocks of lava and heaps of sand. The difficulty and danger of ascending the mountain are now increased by streams of melted snow, sheets of ice, and gusts of chilling winds.

The curious traveller, however, is amply rewarded for his labours and dangers, on reaching the summit. The number of stars seems increased, and their light appears brighter than usual. The whiteness of the milky way is like a blue flame shooting across the skies; and with the naked eye we can see clusters of stars totally invisible in the lower regions.

In the middle of the snowy regions stands the great mouth of the volcano. This is described as a little mountain about a quarter of a mile in height, in the centre of a gently inclining plain. In the middle of this mountain is a large hollow, the inside of which is incrusted with salts and sulphur of different colours. From many parts of this hollow, clouds of sulphurous smoke are continually rolling; and in the midst of it is the terrible gulf from which issue the most confused and frightful noises. During an eruption these may be heard at a prodigious distance.

About a mile below the foot of the great crater are the ruins of an ancient structure of brick, which some imagine to have been built by the philosopher Empedocles. This man was a native of Sicily, and was highly distinguished among his countrymen as an orator, poet and philosopher. It is said that he threw himself into the crater of Mount Etna, in order to make it believed, by his sudden disappearance, that he was of divine origin. The volcano, however, in one of its eruptions, threw out his sandals, and the manner of his death was thus discovered.

Mount Etna supplies Sicily and a large part of Italy, with the luxury of snow and ice. The trade in these articles belongs to the bishop of Catania, who is said to make by it from three to four thousand dollars a year. The woody region abounds with large chestnut trees. One of these is of such extraordinary size that one hundred horses may be sheltered under it from the sun.

The last eruption of Mount Etna was in the year 1830, when seven new craters were opened, and eight villages with their inhabitants were destroyed.

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

The White Mountains in New Hampshire are the loftiest in the United States, East of the Mississippi. They lie between sixty and seventy miles from the coast, yet their white summits are visible for many miles at sea. They extend about twenty miles from south-west to north-east, and their base is eight or ten miles broad.

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The highest summit is Mount Washington, which rises 6428 feet above the level of the ocean.

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The road from the sea-coast to the mountains passes along the head stream of the Saco, which rises among these mountains and breaks through them at a place known by the name of the Notch. This is a narrow defile, extending two miles in length between two large cliffs, which seem to have been torn asunder by some terrible convulsion of nature.

The entrance of the chasm is formed by two rocks standing at the distance of twenty-two feet from each other; one about twenty feet in height and the other about twelve. Half of the space is occupied by the brook mentioned as the head stream of the Saco, the other half

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