DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



tacle : a column of fire, of astonishing volume, 

 was seen to rise from the mouth, the height of 

 which was estimated at about five hundred toisesj 

 at the same time a strong lateral current of lava 

 was discovered running in a south-west direction, 

 and which leaving the base of the column, form- 

 ed a right angle with it, the lines nearly equal 

 in length. 



" The column itself presented in the colours 

 it displayed the greatest variety : the inflamed 

 part, abounding in a prodigious quantity of 

 water arid sand, was occasionally mingled with 

 a chiar' oscuro, which at every instant threaten- 

 ed the flame with extinction, but which ulti- 

 mately tended only to increase its vivacity (and 

 on these occasions was it that the eruption was 

 distinctly visible at Messina), and the dark and 

 caliginous part above, throughout its whole ex- 

 tent, was illuminated by flashes of fire, electrical 

 aigrettes, and evulsions of ignited stones ; so that 

 what with the explosions of the crater, and the 

 incessant subterranean rumbling, a strong simi- 

 litude was afforded to the ear of a distant 

 tempest. 



" This spectacle was presented during two 

 successive days; on the 19th, all seemed ap- 

 peased. It is not with Etna as with Vesuvius; 

 for no one presumes to approach this mountain 



