382 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



observations I have given in this catalogue. I 

 cannot therefore terminate this work more pro- 

 perly, in my opinion, than with an extract from 

 a letter of M. L'Allement, French Consul at 

 Messina, in which some curious details will be- 

 found 3 and a translation, by myself, of the nar- 

 rative of the Chevalier Don Joseph Gioeni, pub- 

 lished in Italian, at Catania, in September 1787- 



" Extract of the Letter ofM. L/ALLEMENT, 

 French Consul at Messina, addressed to 

 the Commander Dolomieu*. 



Letter of the " Precisely six years and two months had 

 elapsed since the last external symptom of fer- 

 mentation exhibited by Etna, when, towards the 

 close of the month of June, the cloud of smoke 

 with which its summit is commonly crowned, 

 was observed to increase in size; this smoke oc- 

 casionally assumed the complexion of fire. 



cc Early in July, an opening was remarked on 

 the edge of the crater in the north-west, and 

 the fire, as seen from Catania, exactly resem- 

 bled the full-moon at its rising above the hori- 

 zon : the lava made a slow progress for two 



* He was a Knight-commander of the Order of Malta. 



