iBhich occurred in Sicily in March 1823. 173 



flaming matter, which gave out on every side bright sparks 

 and struck with fearful crashes. It passed over Naso and 

 St. Marco, and went on wasting itself in the interior. Such 

 phaenomena were unlucky omens to these unhappy towns. At 

 12 o'clock on the 9th a dreadful howling from Vulcano was 

 followed by a violent shock, which after a few moments was 

 repeated with many explosions ; more than a hundred were 

 counted within six days, and anpther on the 21st. Great 

 rocks were detached from the mountains in the vicinity. An- 

 other flaming mass on the 9th of June darted from Vulcano 

 and passed over Sicily ; shocks were felt till the 22d, accom- 

 panied by bowlings and numerous explosions from the burn- 

 ing mountain. St. Marco suffered exceedingly ; but Naso 

 was entirely destroyed*. The volcanos of Eolia contributed 

 much to the earthquakes of Calabria and Messina in 1783. 

 Stromboli was almost always in great commotion. For many 

 days it seemed like a mad bull, which, raised above the waves,, 

 by his roaring filled Calabria and Sicily with terror. Vul- 

 cano often accompanied it, and its deep rumblings and vast 

 columns of smoke and flame were terrible. 



After the violent earthquake of Sciacca in 1816 the same 

 evil fortune happened to other parts of the island. On the 

 15th of April 1817 a severe shock terrified the people of 

 Caltagirone in Valdinoto, and of the neighbouring places. 

 One happened at Catania in October, and another on the 

 20th of February of the following year, 1818, which was 

 enormous. All the towns about JExna. were iniined, and many 

 lives lost. Catania felt its injurious efl^ects. It was felt all 

 over the island, since at Palermo it produced three undu- 

 lations. Others which followed it, and which continued to 

 agitate Catania and the neighbouring region until April, were 

 felt with greater force. All these shocks were the precursors 

 of the grand erujition of ^"Etna, which burst out on the 27th 

 of May 1819, and which lasted until August. While Sicily 

 was trembling, this volcano was making its preparations in 

 silence. The effects of the ojxjrations of iEtna are felt in 

 places at a great distance from the mountain. After the 

 troubles of February and April, Catania and its vicinity en- 

 joyed repose until the 8th of September, when all Madonia 

 was convulsed. Other shocks succeeded in October and No- 

 vember. On the 25th of February 1819 a very severe one 

 was felt, which extended to a great distance. At Palermo 

 three motions were produced, the last of which was very vio- 

 lent. The shocks in the whole of the vast extent of the moun- 

 tains, where so much injury was done to the houses of the 

 * Aniico Auct. ad Faz. Mong. I.e. 



iiuuicrou^ 



