was filled up by
lava. The air is now excessively cold, and a sharp wind is blowing.
Progress is very slow, the soil consists of loose ashes, and the mules
frequently stop; the guide assures us that the Casa Inglesi is quite
near, but the stoppages become so frequent that it seems a long way off;
at length we dismount, and drag the mules after us, and after a toilsome
walk the small lava-built house, called the Casa Inglesi, is reached
(1.30 a.m., temperature 40 deg. F.) It stands at a height of 9,652 feet
above the sea, near the base of the cone of the great crater, and it
takes its name from the fact that it was erected by the English officers
stationed in Sicily in 1811. It has suffered severely from time to time
from the pressure of snow and from earthquakes, but it was thoroughly
repaired in 1862, on the occasion of the visit of Prince Humbert, and is
now in tolerable preservation. It consists of three rooms, containing a
few deal chairs, a table, and several shelves like the berths of ships
furnished with plain straw mattresses; there is also a rough fireplace.
We had no sooner reached this house, very weary and so cold that we
could scarcely move, than it was discovered that the courier had omitted
to get the key from Nicolosi, and there seemed a prospect of spending
the hours till dawn in the open air. Fortunately we had with us a chisel
and a geological hammer, and by the aid of these we forced open the
shutter serving as a window, and crept into the house; ten minutes later
a large wood fire was blazing up the chimney, our eatables were
unpacked, some hot coffee was made, and we were supremely comfortable.

[Illustration: The Casa Inglesi and Cone of Etna]

At 3 a.m. we left the Casa Inglesi for the summit of the great crater,
1,200 feet above us, in order to be in time to witness the sunrise. Our
road lay for a short distance over the upper portion of the Piano del
Lago, and the walking was difficult. The brighter stars had disappeared,
and it was much darker than it had been some hours before. The guide led
the way with a lantern. The ascent of the cone was a very stiff piece of
work; it consists of loose ashes and blocks of lava, and slopes at an
angle of "45 deg. or more" according to one writer, and of 33 deg. according to
another; probably the slope varies on different sides of the cone: we do
not think that the slope much exceeds 33 deg. anywhere on the side of the
cone which we ascended. Fortunately t