twice--the land having first sunk and been then raised again, each
time to the extent of upwards of 20 feet. The evidence of the
submergence of the pillars consists mainly of a zone commencing at
the height of about 12 feet above their pedestals, and extending 9
feet upwards, in which are numerous perforations, made by a marine
bivalve mollusc. The upraising again of the ground on which the
temple stands, to nearly its original height, appears to have
occurred about the time of the formation of Monte Nuovo.




CHAPTER IV.

Mount Etna--Its Appearance and Height-Ancient Eruptions-Pindar's
Allusion--Virgil's Description--Subordinate Cones and Craters-
Caverns--Val del Bove--Formation of Monti Rossi--Eruption of 1852--
Whirlwinds--Lava Torrents--Cascades of Lava--Description of Crater
--Empedocles--Enceladus--Craters of 1865-Cyclopean Isles--Homer's
Legend-Volcanic Origin--Other Basaltic Groups


Mount Etna may well be called the Queen of European Volcanoes, so
majestic does she look, with her lofty summit glistening in the
sunbeams white with snow, yet pouring forth volumes of vapour. This
mountain, as you will observe from the annexed woodcut, is
altogether more massive in its appearance than Vesuvius. It is
about three times higher, rising to nearly eleven thousand feet
above the level of the sea, and it has a circuit of about eighty-
seven miles at its base.