fully exhibited in the escarpment of Somma. Had the supposed
analogy between Somma and the Val del Bove held true, the tufts and
lavas at the head of the valley would have dipped to the west, those on
the north side towards the north, and those on the southern side to the
south. But such I did not find to be the inclination of the beds; they
all dip towards the sea, or nearly east, as in the valleys of St.
Giacomo and Calanna below.

[Illustration: PLATE IV

VIEW OF THE VAL DEL BOVE, ETNA, AS SEEN FROM ABOVE, OR FROM THE CRATER
OF 1819]

_Scenery of the Val del Bove._--Let the reader picture to himself a
large amphitheatre, five miles in diameter, and surrounded on three
sides by precipices from 2000 to 3000 feet in height. If he has beheld
that most picturesque scene in the chain of the Pyrenees, the celebrated
"cirque of Gavarnie," he may form some conception of the magnificent
circle of precipitous rocks which inclose, on three sides, the great
plain of the Val del Bove. This plain has been deluged by repeated
streams of lava; and although it appears almost level, when viewed from
a distance, it is, in fact, more uneven than the surface of the most
tempestuous sea. Besides the minor irregularities of the lava, the
valley is in one part interrupted by a ridge of rocks, two of which,
Musara and Capra, are very prominent. It can hardly be said that they

----"like giants stand
To sentinel enchanted land;"

for although, like the Trosachs, in the Highlands of Scotland, they are
of gigantic dimensions, and appear almost isolated, as seen from many
points, yet the stern and severe grandeur of the scenery which they
adorn is not such as would be selected by a poet for a vale of
enchantment. The character of the scene would accord far better with
Milton's picture of the infernal world; and if we imagine ourselves to
behold in motion, in the darkness of the night, one of those fiery
currents which have so often traversed the great valley, we may well
recall

----"yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful."

The face of the precipices already mentioned is broken in the most
picturesque manner by the vertical walls of lava which traverse them.
These masses visually stand out in relief, are exceedingly diversified
in form, and of immense altitude. In the autumn, their black outline may
often