photograph here reproduced. The stream ceased flowing when within three hundred and seventy yards of the building nearest the volcano.
It was interesting to observe that the stream did not actually plow up the loose volcanic earth of the vineyards, but simply rolled or flowed over the surface without throwing up the soil. The angle of the sides of the stream is steep and the sides are rough, like frozen foam or congealed slag from a furnace.
The same afternoon we returned to Catania, visited the university, and the next day found us on our way to Taormina, catching from the window of our car fine views of Mount Etna. The accompanying picture will give a faint idea of the wondrously fine view of the volcano as seen from the walls of the interesting ruins of the Greek-Roman theater at Taormina, as well as the town itself, and the flanks of Etna studded with villages and hamlets. It is a view said to be the finest in all Europe, and the claim we will not dispute. Certainly a more magnificent outlook, combining the attractions of a land with a history so rich and varied, of so majestic a volcano, of so fair a sky, and of a sea so beautiful as on that bright sunny April day, never met our gaze.
And then the view of Etna at sunset, from the terrace of the Hôtel Timeo, and again when its cone was lit up by the rising sun, were memorable scenes. The volcano was also kind enough to flame up at night, the light of the glowing but subdued volcanic fires at the bottom of the crater being reflected in the darkness upon the clouds of steam hovering above.
The fires of Etna have subsided, only to be succeeded in that beautiful island by a far more terrible social upheaval; the burden of agrarian wrongs, inflicted by the wealthy landholders, and of the too heavy taxes causing a sudden and widespread volcanic uprising on the part of the downtrodden peasants. Let us hope that by timely concessions and patient readjustments of the relation between landlords and tenants a calm as serene and pervasive as to outward appearance at least reigned over the fair island a few years ago, may speedily return.
