626 



THE UNIVERSE. 



In our time Vesuvius, in its throes, nas produced lava 

 floods which have annihilated some small towns. In 1794 

 its burning waves submerged all the habitations in Torre 

 del Greco, rising above their roofs. Recently again (in 

 1861) the same volcano destroyed a part of this country 

 town, which had been rebuilt after the disaster. 1 



234. Etna: Cascade of Red-Hot Lava during the Eruption of 1771. 



1 [In 1872 another eruption took place, which, though not the greatest on 

 record, was the greatest within the memory of man. It began on the afternoon 

 of April 23, without warning of any kind. By eight o'clock on the evening of the 

 24th orifices had opened in the mountain here and there on all sides, sending 

 down rivers of lava, and thrusting out long and broad tongues of fire, which now 

 appeared, now disappeared. These subsidiary cones were fourteen in number, 

 and the lava, issuing from so many different points, threatened to carry devastation 

 far and wide. By the night of the 27th the horrors had partly ceased, and the 

 mountain gradually returned to its ordinary condition. This eruption was at- 



