28 ABOUT VOLCANOS AND EARTHQUAKES. 



cloud of smoke and minute ashes ; a horrid clashing 

 noise was heard in the air ; and presently fell a deluge 

 of stones and large scorise, some of which scoriae were 

 of the diameter of seven or eight feet, and must have 

 weighed more than one hundred pounds before they 

 were broken by their falls, as some of the fragments 

 of them which I picked up in the streets still weighed 

 upwards of sixty pounds. When these large vitrified 

 masses either struck against each other in the air or fell 

 on the ground they broke in many pieces, and covered a 

 large space around them with vivid sparks of fire, which 

 communicated their heat to everything that was combus- 

 tible. In an instant the town and country about it was 

 on fire in many parts ; for in the vineyards there were 

 several straw-huts, which had been erected for the watch- 

 men of the grapes, all of which were burnt. A great 

 magazine of wood in the heart of the town was all in a 

 blaze : and had there been much wind, the flames must 

 have spread universally, and all the inhabitants would 

 have infallibly been burnt in their houses, for it was im- 

 possible for them to stir out. Some who attempted it 

 with pillows, tables, chairs, tops of wine casks, etc., on 

 their heads, were either knocked down or driven back to 

 their close quarters, under arches and in the cellars of the 

 houses. Many were wounded, but only two persons 

 have died of the wounds they received from this dread- 

 ful volcanic shower. To add to the horror of the scene, 

 incessant volcanic lightning was writhing about the black 

 cloud that surrounded them, and the sulphureous smell and 

 heat would scarcely allow them to draw their breath." 



