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MOUNT ÆTNA.

We present our readers in this number two engravings of Mount Etna, which are rendered particularly interesting at the present moment, as from the latest accounts from Sicily we learn

that the mountain was again vomiting forth its volcanic flames. A letter from a gentleman near the spot states, that three new craters have been formed, one of which vomits lava, the second stones and sand, and the third only smoke. The stream of lava was at the time of writing more than a mile in

[1833.

tends through an ascent of from 12 to 18 miles. The city of Catania and several villages are situated in the first zone, which abounds in pastures, orchards, and various kinds of fruit-trees.

Its great fertility is ascribed chiefly to the decomposition of lava; it is perhaps owing, in part, to cultivation. The figs and fruits in general, in this region, are reckoned the finest in

Sicily.

The lava here flows from a number of small

mountains, which are dispersed over the im-
mense declivity of Etna. The woody region, or
temperate zone, extends from
direct line towards the top of the mountain; it

8 to breadth, and about eighteen

miles in extent. The loss of property is of course immense, many vallies being filled, fruit trees and vineyards destroyed, &c., while the in

cessant earthquakes have demolished several

villages. The lava moving slowly, the inhabitants have generally escaped. Ten thousand strangers and others who came to visit the mountain were living in tents. Bronte, Lord Nelson's village, was likely soon to be overwhelmed, the lava being but a few miles from it.

The following account of this wonderful mountain is full of interest, and having been compiled from various sources, forms a suitable accompaniment to the plate.

10 miles in a

comprehends a surface of about 40 or 45 square leagues, and forms a zone of the brightest green all round the mountain, exhibiting a pleasing contrast to its white and hoary head. It is called la regione selvosa, because it abounds in oaks, beeches and firs. The soil is similar to that of the lower region. The air here is cool and refreshing, and every breeze is loaded with a thousand perfumes, the whole ground being covered with the richest aromatic plants. Many parts of this region are the most delightful spots upon earth, and have inspired ancient and modern poets with images of beauty and loveliness. The animal kingdom of these two regions is not equal in point of richness to the vegetable. The upper or barren region is marked out by a circle of snow and ice. Its surface is, for the most part, flat, and the approach to it is indicated by the decline of vegetation, by uncovered rocks of lava and heaps of sand, by near views of the expanse of snow and ice, and of torrents of smoke issuing from the crater of the mountain, also by the difficulty and danger of advancing amidst streams of melted snow, sheets of ice, and gusts of chilling winds. The curious traveller, how ever, thinks himself amply rewarded, upon gain. ing the summit, for the peril which he has encountered. The number of stars seems increased, and their light appears brighter than usual; the lustre of the milky way is like a pure flame that

ATNA, (in Italian, monte Gibello,) the famous volcanic mountain on the eastern coast of Sicily, not far from the Catania. This mountain rises more than 10,000 feet above the surface of the sea; Buffon thinks, 2000 fathoms; Saussure gives 10,963 feet, Spallanzani 11,400, and Sir G. Shuckburgh 10,954. Its circumference at the base is 180 miles. On its sides are 77 cities, towns and villages, containing about 115,000 inhabitants. From Catania (T.) to the summit the distance is 30 miles, and the traveller must pass through three distinct climates-the hot, the temperate and the frigid. Accordingly, the whole mountain is divided into three distinct regions, called the fertile region (regione culta), the woody region (regione selvosa), and the barren region (regione deserta). The lowest region ex-1 shoots across the heavens; and with the 1 aked

MOUNT ÆTNA.

eye we may observe clusters of stars totally in- | visible in the lower regions. The scoriæ, of which the mountain is composed, have the same kind of b of base, containing schorl and feldspar. The first eruption of which we have any authentic account, is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. The last eruption took place in 1819. It appears very probable that mount Ætna is exhausting its volcanic powers, as the eruptions of modern times are by no means so frequent nor are they so tremendous in their extent and as in former ages, effects. Before the Christian era, there were 9 eruptions, of which those in 477 and 121 B. C. are the most important: after Christ, the most important are those in 1160, 1169, 1329, 1536, 1537, 1669, 1693, 1763, 1787, 1792, 1802, 1809, 1811, 1819. Mount Ætna supplies Sicily and large part of Italy, and even Malta, with the luxury of snow and ice. The trade in these articles belongs to the bishop of Catania, who, as it is stated, makes from 3000 to 4000 dollars per annum by it. The vegetation of the woody region is exceedingly luxuriant. There is one chestnut tree, under which 100 horses may be sheltered against the sun.

a

The first station in the ascent of the mountain is Nicolosi, plate 1, let. H, which is about 12 miles up the mountain, and 2496 feet above the level of the sea. The road from Catania to this station lies over old lavas and the mouths of extinguished volcanoes, which are now converted into cornfields, vineyards and orchards.The figs of this region, and the fruits in general, are reckoned the finest in Sicily. Not far from Nicolosa is monte Rosso, which was formerly a plain; but in 1669 a new crater was opened in it, and discharged a dreadful torrent of lava, which lowed into the sea and formed a kind of promontary, (see Y). It is surrounded, to the extent of of two miles, with a black sand, which was thrown out in that eruption, and which then covered an extent of 15 miles, to such a depth as to hury the vines and shrubs that were scattered over the soil. Some of the liner particles of it were wafted by the wind as far as Calabria.

The next day it moved towards a tract of coun-
try called Mel Passo, inhabited by about 800
entirely depopulated and laid waste; the lava
people, which, which, w in the space of twenty hours, was
then changed its direction, and destroyed some
other village
were also destroyed. On the 23d of March, the
ages. Monpellieri and its inhabitants
stream of lava was in some places two miles
broad, and extended itself to the village of Mez-
from which were discharged sand and ashes,
zalucia. On this day a new gulf was opened,
which formed a hill with two summits, two miles
in circumference, and 150 paces high; these
consisted of stones of different colors.

of this mountain with torches, but could not
M. Houel went down into one of the openings
turn on account of the extreme cold. The cra-
reach the bottom, and was obliged soon to re-
ter is of an oval form, and the opening through
which he descended was in one extremity; but
he inclined to think that the crater which rises
above
by another mouth; or perhaps it might have had
it had been formed of matter discha discharged
a more centrical opening, through which the
charged. This mountain is one of the mouths of
stones, sand, &c. that form the crater, were dis-
Ætna, through which it discharges, from time to
time, great quantities of lava, sand, ashes, &c,
The sides of the craters are not all of the same
height; those to the east and west are consider-
ably higher than the intermediate summits, be-
cause the currents of the ashes passed alternate-
ly from east to west, and fell upon these sides in
greater quantities than upon the others; which
circumstance has given to this volcano the ap-
pearance of two summits.

this mountain, is an agreeable resting-place for
St. Niccolo dell' Arena, in the neighborhood of
travellers who visit Ætna. This is an ancient
edifice, founded on the lava, and was formerly
the habitation of a number of Benedictine
monks, who, about 200 years ago, were obliged,
lava, to abandon it, and retire to Catania. Here
on account of the devastations occased by the
earthquakes, torrents of lava, and showers of
are many inscriptions which record the ruinous
sand and ashes by which it has been damaged,
and even destroyed, together with the dates of
up in 1669, is more easily changed into vegeta-
their different repairs.
ble earth than the lava; and has for many years
The black sand, thrown
been planted with extensive vineyards: whilst
there are many beds of ancient lava that remain
in an unproductive state, and destitute of every
kind of vegetable.

The old crater on the suminit of Etna raged for two or three months before this event, in an unusual manner: and this was also the case with Volcano and Stromboli, two burning islands to the west of it. In the evening of the 11th of March, at the distance of about twenty miles from the old mouth, and ten miles from Catania, a chasm was opened in the east side of the mountain, which is said to have been several miles (Borelli says twelve) in length, and five or six feet wide. This was not far from the place where monte Rosso afterwards rose, and extended in the direction of the grand crater of Ætna. See pl. i. V. V. V. On the night following, in the place where this mountain now stands, another large cleft opened, and several other chasms were formed in different parts of the mountain; flowers. Its crater is large in proportion to the and there issued from all of them huge volumes of mountain itself, and is as exactly hollowed out smoke, accompanied with the usual phenomena as the best made bowl. This mountain was of thunder and earthquake. From the principal formed by the first eruption that destroyed the chasm there issued the same night a stream of ancient HYBLA, which was celebrated for its lava, which directed its course to a lake called fertility, and particularly for its honey, and la Hardia, about six miles from Monpellieri, thence called Mel Passi; thus, in consequence and in its way destroyed many dwelling-houses, of being reduced by several eruptions, and more and other buildings in the adjacent villages. particularly by that of 1669, to a state of wretch

called Montpelieri, or Monpileri, (see letter G).
At a small distance there is another mountain,
This is of a spherical form, and its perpendicu-
lar height does not exceed 300 feet, and its cir-
cuit is
every side, and richly overspread with fruits and
perfectly regular

about a mile. It is

on

1 LOVE AND GLORY-THE PARTING HOUR-FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

ed sterility, it obtained the contemptuous appellation of Mal Passi. The lava, however, in its course over this beautiful country, has left several little islands or hillocks, which exhibit a singular appearance, with all the bloom of the most luxuriant vegetation, encompassed and rendered almost inaccessible by large fields of black and rugged lava.

The summit of Ætna, surrounded with large masses of lava, is exhibited in plate ii. A. A. A. represents one edge of the lava of 1787, which issued from the upper crater. B. B. is the circumference of the crater, with its cleft. C. C. through which the internal part is discernible. D. is the flat bottom of the crater; and E. the aperture in the bottom, from which the larger column of smoke F. F. arose: which aperture, though it was at one side of the bottom, is, for the greater distinctness of view, represented in the middle. G. G. is that part of the edge of the crater from which its internal part is best seen, and where the design of it might be most conveniently taken. H. H. is the smaller column of smoke to the north-east.

The numerous caverns that are met with in different parts of Etna deserve notice. Kircher speaks of one, which he saw, capable of containing 30.000 persons. One of these caverns still retains the name of Proserpine, from its being supposed by the ancients, that it was by this entry Pluto conveyed her into his dominions; on which occasion Ovid describes Ceres as searching for her daughter with two trees, which she had plucked from the mountain, for serving the purpose of torches.

LOVE AND GLORY.

The foe had fled and the fight pass'd on,
And night in her stillness was reigning;
Save the random shot of the distant gun,
Or the soldiers low complaining.

Far down where the battle had hottest been,
Where the blood-tinged brook ascended;
With a shrinking form and a pallid mein,
A gentle maiden bended.

She bent o'er her lover's gory bed,
For his life was fast receding;

On her heaving breast she pillowed his head,
And essay'd to staunch its bleeding.

"Oh look on me, love!" but he heeded not,

"Oh tell me thou art not dying!"

He heard but the far off battle shot,

He saw but the foeman flying.

Original.

"Fly! fly with me Alfred-Oh!" vainly she wept,
And twined her white arms around him!
Too far on the war-storm his fierce spirit swept,
And the spell of the battle still bound him.

He raised from her breast-"To the battle on!
On freeinen the foe's before ye!"

"Oh hush thee, my Alfred the battle is gone!"
"On! on! for your country's glory !"
"What! quail soldiers quail! by the fame of my sire,
"I'll hew down the craven that cowers;

"Back, back to the battle! Ay, form now and fire, "Then charge and the victory's ours!

One rush of vitality swell'd his frame,

The blood bursted forth as he started;

195

"On! on!" and he stagger'd-he sunk to his fame, "On! on!" and his spirit departed!

One wild look of terror the maiden cast,
On the form of her lifeless lover;
One look, 'twas the saddest-the loveliest cast,
One throb, and her sorrows were over.

Her head on the breast of her hero sunk low,
No sobs her soft frame betoken:

And the dew gathered thick on her pale cold brow,
Cold! cold! For her heart was broken.
Man's heart on a thousand paths may rove,
For the guerdon of power or pleasure;
But the glory of woman, her world is love,
Her only, her every treasure.

THE PARTING HOUR.
Oft have I seen the rising tear,
Start forth at the word farewell,
The lingering look of fondness dear.
Speaking more than words can tell.
Oft have I seen love's smile appear,
Amid those drops of parting sorrow,
As cupid whispered in the ear,

You only part to meet to morrow.
Oft have I heard the trembling sigh,
Burst from the bosom's deep recess;
And if I'd ask the reason why,
Thou'd answer, we must part! oh yes.
And shall we part, oh! yes we must,

For death the silver chord will sever, When mingled with our kindred dust, 'Tis then we part on earth forever. But we will meet in realms above, With heavenly spirits gone before, And then in never-ending love,

We'll know the parting hour no more.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. The Press-the Press-the glorious Press,

It makes the nation free!
Before it tyrants prostrate fall,
And proud oppressors free!
In what a state of wretchedness
Without it should we be;
And can we then too highly prize

The source of liberty!

The Press the Press-the glorious Press,

It dissipates our gloom!

And sheds a ray of happiness

O'er victims of the tomb:

See, darkness from his bon throne

Has fled to realms of night.

And o'er the world is now diffused.;
A flood of heavenly light.

:

The Press-the Press-the glorious Press,
What thanks are due to those,
Who all attempts to quench its beams
Triumphantly, oppose;

To them belongs the wreath of fame!
The garland of renown!

The honor of a deathless name!
A never-fading crown.

THE MORAVIAN INDIANS.

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The murder of the Moravian, or Christian Indians on the Tuscarawas, in 1782, was amongst those acts which make a nation blush; but like all other acts of man it has been discolored. The name of Col. David Williamson, who was the nominal commander of the party who were the perpetrators, has been held up to infamy as a monster. This preface, and the Tale which follows, were neither of them written to excuse the deed of horror, nor have I ever heard a single voice raised in its justification, though I was bred from a child to mature years near Washington, Pennsylvania, and of course in the very section of country from whence the actors proceeded. The Christian Indians were placed in the very most dangerous position that was possible, not, as commonly supposed, on the Muskingum, but Tuscarawas, directly between the warlike tribes and the equally warlike frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania; and as a natural and inevitable consequence, exposed to the suspicions of both parties.

In the work published in 1819, in Philadelphia, by the A. P. S., and written by Mr. Heckewelder, formerly a Moravian Missionary among the Indians, we are made to believe, as far as the context can influence our opinions, that the Christian Indians on the Tuscarawas, were safe except on the part of the whites. This was far indeed from being the true state in which these people were placed. The Simon Girty mentioned by Mr. Heckewelder, was then a renegado amongst the hostile Mingoes and Shawnees, and in deeds of blood suffered no man to be his supe

rior.

The almost universal opinion on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from about 1778, was, that the chieftain and peaceable Indians or Tuscarawas ought to be removed. The lawless hands on both sides were dreaded, and the considerate and hunane part of the whites, an immense majority of the whole, in most anxiously desired to avert a catastrophe.foreseeing, With many of the actors I was quainted, and must say, that the result of the expersonally acpedition could never have been premeditated, except by a few if by any single person. The act was loudly, and I may say almost universally condemned in the settlements, not simply from dread of revenge, but from genuine feelings of humanity.

Beside giving a coloring too strong on one side, Mr. Heckewelder has made some material errors in facts and dates. In page sixty-four this author quotes part of a speech made by an Indian, at which he says he was present, April, 1787; and in the next page states that "Eleven months after this speech was delivered, ninety-six of the same Christian Indians, about sixty of them women and children, were murdered, &c." It may be rationally conjectured, that the two last figures ought to be transposed, and make the date 1778; but even then the date of the massacre would fall in March, 1779, whilst it really took place in the summer of 1782. Without troubling the

reader with personal detail, I can assert that, though very young, I cannot be mistaken in the latter date.

In page two hundred and eighty, when speakmer, 1782, but commanded by Crawford and ing of the second party sent out the same sumWilliamson, Mr. Heckewelder states, after giving some previous movements, they then shaped their course towards the hostile Indian villages, where being, contrary to their expectations, furiously attacked, Williamson and his band took the whole party escaped except one Col. Crawthe advantage of a dark night and ran off, and ford and another, who being taken by the Indians, were carried in triumph to their villages, &c.This account is exceedingly incorrect. There were several other persons taken with Colonel Crawford and tortured to death. Two very remarkable escapes were made; one by a man of the name of Stover, and the other, Dr. Knight.The adventures of these two men would figure in romance, with all the interest of truth. Storeached the Ohio on the fifth day. Dr. Knight ver was well acquainted with the country, and posed to every hardship and danger. was about twenty-two or twenty-three days ex

the exceptions given above, to say nothing of So far again was the party from escaping with others, there were three men out of the near neighborhood where I lived who were never again heard of of course perished; their names were William Nimmons, William Johnson, and William Houston.

to explain the natural causes of a deplorable These historical facts are given to serve as data event. In the Tale my object has been to paint the times, and give the feelings of men as they play in my presence at an age when impressions were then agitated. Those feelings had their moment, when upwards of fifty years have passare not simply deep, but indelible. I can at this man who came running to where my mother ed, see the faces of my mother and another wostood, crying-" James Workman is killed! Oh, James Workman is killed!" Mr. Workman was not, however, killed-he returned to his family.

THE MORAVIAN INDIANS.

I cannot weep, yet I can feel

The pangs that rend a parent's breast:
But ah, what sighs or tears can heal

Thy griefs, and wake the slumberer's rest?

MCDIAVMID.

man improvement was more than all others, cal "If ever the view of any one picture of huculated to inspire sentiments of the most sublime enthusiasm, it is that of the "Great West," that immense region around us, and from which issue the thousand and ten thousand fountains, mingling their tribute to form the mighty Mississippi; but to feel the entire beauties of this canvas in their full harmony, they might have been seen as I have seen, when the first outlines of civilization were sketched; and now, when are presented in continual succession, farms, towns and cities, connected by rivers, roads and canals, with all the busy hum of commercial life. They must have been seen whilst the howl of the savage was

THE MORAVIAN INDIANS.

still heard in the dark wild-when barbarism is replaced by all the allurements of cultivated society. Yes; at the extremes of sixty years have I traversed these banks," said old Kingsley Hale, raising his voice, while his still expressive eye glanced down the tranquil Ohio, and with his hand stretched towards the rising city of Wheeling.

"My young friends, let any one of you ima gine himself encamped on this spot alone and with an unbroken forest around him, crouched under a fallen tree with his rifle, his only friend, clasped to his breast. It is night, stillness and darkness reign over the waste. You are fallen into a slumber, from which you are roused by slumber, sound, long and piercing; it comes from beyond that river. Is it the Cougar's scream? no. It is a thousand times more terrible-it is the yell of the Indian. This sound ceases, stillness agai

a

reigns; fatigue wraps your senses in sleep, from which the burning rays of a summer sun recall you to waking recollection; you grasp your faithful rifle and rise with caution; you dare not stir a leaf, but what do you see? One wide sweep of cultivation. The forest is broken, fields stretch beyond fields, and of the primeval woods, what remain, serves to form a part only of the enchanting landscape. A city, with all the attributes of wealth and human enjoyment, occupies the foreground. What would be your astonishment at such a change? you could not believe it other than an illusion, for such a change have I seen, and from this very spot. Along this bank I was one of four, the remnant of forty, who escaped the savages. On yonder bank, and under that immense hotel, slumber the dust of my fallen friends."

"Grand-papa," interrupted a lovely girl, "you have put us all into such a melancholy kind ofjoy; such a-oh! I don't know what to call it; but you promised us the the tale of Schenbrun." "My little Ellen," said the old warrior, placing his hand on her head, "the tale of Schænbrun will indeed give melancholy joy-it will exeite regret for the past, and gladness that those days of blood are long gone into years of past time.

197

the prophetic eye would have wept tears of bitterness. In many of my hunting excursions (for then we were all hunters), I strayed to the creeks of Tuscarawas; and many is the night my weary limbs found rest at Schoenbrun. But those days of peace were to be succeeded by a storm -a sweeping destruction, the American Revolutionary War. That great period gave a republic to the earth, and humbled the proud oppressor. Such benefits were purchased with blood, and not in every case sustained with blood.

"If a few native Indians planted the olive, the much greater number cherished the laurel, and remained ready to dig up the tomahawk, or hatchet of war. With an improvidence, which has cost our lengthened to ontier so much of blood and misery, these warriors were left to our enemy. Every art was used to excite them against

us.

"Slow and constant was the stream of white emigration; and with superior arms and other means, every rising young man became a natural enemy to the Indians, and the Indians felt that their inheritance was passing to the white race. Between these warlike bosies stood the three defenceless villages of Gnadenhutten, Schænbrun and Salem. Threats from the east, at first slight, but yearly becoming more fierce and loud, reached the Moravian Indians on Tuscarawas, in accents of death. The sounds from the west were not less appalling; the Christian Indians stood between two hostile nations, suspected by, and exposed to the vengeance of both no government to offer an arm to these unprotected and unsuspecting people; and the whirlwind of destruction reached their dwellings. They perished, but not alone.

"Let us return some years and fix our eyes upon the early settlements along the Monongahela. Even before the ill-directed and ill-fated expedition of British and provincials, under Gen. Braddock, some few habitations of whites had begun to appear along our streams; and in one of those rude cabins appeared and smiled Ellen Aylworth. Like a rose in the desert did I see this beauteous flower bloom. At that early time what little of society was to be seen, presented with much of kindness, a stern inflexibility of purpose, and with that tenacity, a promptness of action, which crowded events upon events. As the thunders of the Revolutionary War began to be hoarsely heard beyond our mountains, Ellen rose to womanhood, but with her rose anotherSaul Garvin. This young man was light of form and fleet as the deer on the hills. In person and in natural manners, never have I since beheld the equal to Saul Garvin. Ellen Aylworth was life and beauty personified-Garvin personated the times; he was serious but his heart was warm. In other regions and stations Ellen would have shone amongst the gay, the gifted, and the great. They were two whom nature placed together and forced to love, yet their hearts were not alike moulded-they were not destined to tread happi ly over the rough paths before them.

"In Europe, my young friends-my children, amongst many other societies of christians, arose one," the United Brothers." Some of these men came to America, not to bring a sword, but the glad tidings of peace. Their persuasive voice reached into the deepest recesses of these woods of which I have spoken, and entered the hearts of many natives, who embraced, not in name, but reality, the doctrines of Christ. Of these red men and their families, many settled on the Muskingum. The messengers of christianity were Germans, and in memory of their native pla places, German names were given to three villages, Salem, Gnadenhutten, and Schænbrun. During the twelve or thirteen years which passed between the Old French War,' to the beginning of that of the Revolution, peace reigned over these solitary settlements; they were spots, and pleasing ones, on the beautiful Tuscarawas, where the children of nature learned to lisp the name of Him whose power brought them into existence. They were spots on which the eye of benevolence delighted to dwell, but over which | felt its malign influence. Saul was under the

"It always makes me smile when I hear the pride of wealth named, for never have I seen any rank-for 1 have seen all ranks-where this spirit was not equally active; and Saul and Ellen

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