VOLCANOES, THEIR ACTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 45 



non to be no longer visible. The resemblance presented by Stromboli 

 to a 'flashing-light' on a most gigantic scale is very striking, and the 

 mountain has long been known as the ' lighthouse of the Mediterra- 

 nean.' " 



The island appears, if Ave land upon it, to be entirely built up of 

 such materials as we know to be ejected from volcanoes ; " indeed, it 



resembles, on a gigantic scale, the surroundings of an iron-furnace, 

 with its heaps of cinders and masses of slag. The irregularity in the 

 form of the island is at once seen to be due to the action of the wind, 

 the rain, and the waves of the surrounding sea, which have removed 

 the loose, cindery materials at some points, and left the hard, slaggy 

 masses standing up prominently at others." This pile stands in a sea 



