( 365 ) 



On the neio Insular Volcano, named Hotham Islandy which has 

 just appeared off Sicily ; with a Viezo of the Volcano, hy 

 one of the Officers of the Philomel *. Plate VI. 



A.LTHOUGH Europe at an early period was much convulsed 

 and changed through volcanic agency, at present these subter- 

 ranean actions are comparatively feeble. When therefore any 

 igneous matter is sent from below, its appearance does not fail 

 to excite a great degree of interest. jEtna, Vesuvius, and Hecla, 

 during our own times, have had repeated eruptions ; but no new 

 island has been formed in the European seas, nor in any neigh- 

 bouring ocean, with exception of that off the coast of St Mi- 

 chaePs, when the temporary island of Sabrina rose from the 

 deep. It first showed itself above the sea on the 13th of June 

 1811, and continued to increase for several days, when it at- 

 tained a circumference of one mile, and a height of 300 feet. 

 It had a beautiful crater, with an opening 30 feet wide to the 

 south-west, from which hot water poured into the sea. Captain 

 , Tillard, who visited the island on the 4th of July, has published 

 a drawing, with an account of it. In the month of October of 

 the same year, the island began gradually to disappear, and, by 

 the end of February 1812, vapour only was occasionally seen 

 rising from the spot where the island formerly stood. 



On the 11th July last, an island very much resembling Sa- 

 brina, being composed of vesicular lava, scorise, and volcanic 

 a^es, and which may have the same fate, made its appearance oiF 

 the coast of the island of Sicily. Several accounts of this interest- 

 ing phenomenon have reached us, which, although but imper- 

 fect, cannot fail to interest our readers. 



The first notice of this new insular volcano was published in 

 the following terms, in the Messager des Chambres : — " To- 

 wards 1 1 o'clock of the 10th of July 1831, Captain John Cor- 

 rao, commander of the brig Theresine, going from Trapani to 

 Girgenti, in Sicily, at the distance of about twenty miles from Cape 

 St Mark,' perceived at the distance of a gun-shot a mass of 

 water, which rose 60 feet above the level of the sea, and pre- 



" The accompanying engraving (PL VI.) is from a drawing by Dr Greville, 

 from the sketch by one of the ofhcers of tlic Philomel. 



