oe 
Ro ‘ea in Sicily. 231 
troubled 1 Sicily. y one morning in February, 1444, 
enormo of heated matter, amidst huge volumes of 
smoke aud mee me, were raised from the summit of Vulcano, 
_ hurled about the sea to the distance of six miles, while 
Other flami 
strong shocks agitated this island and Sicily.* 
masses were thrown out on the 24th of August, 1631, which, 
driven by the wind passed over Naso in Sicily, directly i in 
front of Vulcano, and on the next day this unhappy city, by 
the violence of the convulsions of the earth,was entirely laid 
in ruins. Many persons were injured. A cleft was made 
in the soil from which a very strong odour of sulphur issued.t 
On the 22d of April, 1717, at dawn of day, a deep subterra- 
nean murmur was rd, accompanied by a severe earth- 
quake, the shocks of which were felt all along the northern 
a even to Messina. But the places shoes suffered most 
ere those nearly over against Vulcano, ilazzo, 
Jeol Castrorealo, twenty-six miles distant from it. The 
last city was entirely ruined.{ Shocks were renewed in the 
same places in 1732; and with much greater force in 1736, 
when the whole northern coast was violently affected, par- 
ticularly Palermo, Ciminna, which was much damaged, and 
Naso, which suffered still more.§ On the 4th of May, 1739, 
about 5 o’clock P. M. the inhabitants of St. Marco, a town 
back of Naso, saw thrown from the mouth of Vulcano im- 
mense clouds of smoke and burning matter, which, driven 
by the wind, came roaring and thundering _ Sicily, letting 
fall ee into the sea and on the neighbouring 
shore, flaming matter which gave out on ee side bright 
sparks and struck with fearful crashes. It passed over Naso 
rco, and went on wasting itself in the pete 
Such phenomena were unlucky omens to these unhapp. 
towns. At 12 0’clock on the 9th, a dreadful bowling fron 
‘Vulcano was followed by a violent: shock, which after =F se 
a 
moments was repeated with many explosions; more 
hundred were counted within six days, and another on the 
twenty-first. Great rocks were detached from the mountains 
in the vicinity. Another flaming mass on the 9th of June, 
darted from Vulcano and passed over Sicily ; shocks were 
felt till the: Be 2 Pai 5 by 6 and numerous 
* Faz. dec + Carr. Dial. il Bonan. 
t Bott. de Trin ten. Mess. 1717. § Mong. Stor. dei trem. 
* 
