388 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



with the volcanic matters it incessantly show- 

 ered down. This cloud continued thus supplied 

 until the night of the 30th, when it wholly dis- 

 appeared*. 



" In the morning of the 30th, Catania and 

 the neighbourhood were covered with a small 

 layer of extremely fine powders. 



" The flames and smoke continued during the 

 night ; and the smoke, extending from the sum- 

 mit towards the west, indicated the direction of 

 an eruption of lava ; the volcano continued in 

 this state without any remarkable alteration, other 

 than occasional subterranean shocks. 



" On the 8th of July, at two in the afternoon, 

 the smoke increased, rising in white and opake 

 globular clouds, which rapidly succeeded each 

 other; by these clouds the mountain was cover- 

 ed, and the atmosphere was loaded with them to 

 an immense height; they spread towards the 

 west, in the direction of the wind : at the same 

 time a roaring was heard under ground, accom- 

 panied by concussions of the earth ; the repeated 

 peals of thunder were echoed through the air, 



* " On visiting the spots covered by this rain of powder, I re-- 

 marked that the smoke had formed a bend towards the south, as, 

 on leaving the crater, it passed over Trifaglietto and Zafarana, and 

 thence, directing its course by the woods of Jaci, it reached the sea 

 above Santa Tecla." 



