NOME III. INDUKATED MUD. 



snow. 



strongly impregnated with iron, they might, on 

 Patrin's theory, become basaltin ; or, if mingled 

 with felspar, a clay porphyry. But this curious 

 subject must remain for future investigation*. 



It was supposed that Etna, during the erup- Often melted 

 tion of 1755, had poured out a torrent of mud; 

 but Ferrara has shown that it was only snow and 

 ice, melted by the lava; and he gives a singular 

 instance of the lava having attacked a mass of 

 ice, which it partially melted, and left only a 

 pile in the midst, which stood for some time like 

 a superb palace of crystal. Ulloa also mentions 

 a torrent of melted snow, which issued from the 

 volcano of Cargaraso in South Americaf. The 

 water volcano, as it is called, of Guatimala pro- 

 bably ejects mud ; and Ferrara regards Maca- 

 luba as belonging to that system of volcanic 



* Mr. Jameson, (Geogn. 353, Notes,) says the mud of the Ame- 

 rican volcanoes is called Koth by the Spaniards, and Muya by the 

 Indians. For this, and some other parts of his Note, he has ad- 

 duced no authority ; and they seem borrowed, as usual, from some 

 inaccurate German writer. He adds, that this mud is of a blackish 

 brown colour, earthy, and not very coherent. There are traces of 

 glassy felspar; but none of sulphur or pyrites. Some kinds are used 

 as fuel, and emit a strong heat, without flame. Klaproth's analysis, 

 by this account, yielded chiefly silex and argil, with carbonic acid, 

 hydrogen gas, amonia, coal, lime, oxyd of iron, and natron. I can- 

 not find it in Klaproth's works. 



f Ferrara, 105. Ulloa, i. 267, falsely quoted by Ordinaire as a 

 volcano of mud. 



