uptions, and an account of
the products of eruptions. Some idea may be formed of the extreme
prolixity of the author if we mention that two chapters, together
containing twelve quarto pages, are devoted to the discussion of the
height of Etna, while the first volume is terminated by sixty-three
closely printed pages of annotations. A few rough woodcuts accompany the
volumes; a view of the mountain which, as usual, is out of all reason
as regards abruptness of ascent, and a _carta oryctographia di
Mongibello_ in which the trend of the coast-line between Catania and
Taormina is altogether inexact, complete the illustrations of this most
detailed of histories.

During the years 1814-1816 Captain Smyth, acting under orders from the
Admiralty, made a survey of the coast of Sicily, and of the adjacent
islands. At this time the Mediterranean charts were very defective; some
places on the coast of Sicily were mapped as much as twenty miles out of
their true position, and even the exact positions of the observatories
at Naples, Palermo, and Malta were not known. Among other results, Smyth
carefully determined the latitude and longitude of Etna, accurately
measured its height, and examined the surroundings of the mountain. His
results were published in 1824, and are often regarded as the most
accurate that we possess.

In 1824 Dr. Joseph Gemellaro, who lived all his life on the mountain,
and made it his constant study, published an "Historical and
Topographical Map of the Eruptions of Etna from the era of the Sicani to
the year 1824." In it he delineates the extent of the three Regions,
_Coltivata_, _Selvosa_, and _Deserta_; he places the minor cones, to the
number of seventy-four, in their proper places, and he traces the course
of the various lava-streams which have flowed from them and from the
great crater. This map is the result of much patient labour and study,
and it is a great improvement upon those of Ferrara and Recupero, but of
course it is impossible for one man to survey with much accuracy an area
of nearly 500 square miles, and to trace the tortuous course of a large
number of lava-streams. Hence we must be prepared for inaccuracies, and
they are not uncommon--the coast line is altogether wrong as to its
bearings, some of the small towns on the sides of the mountain are
misplaced, and but little attention has been paid to scale. Still the
map is very useful, as it is the only one which shows the course of the
lava