484 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



and- to prove the truth of the opinion generally 

 received, that great eruptions are accompanied 

 j^y extraordinary phenomena in the sea. A 

 more grand spectacle there could not be. On 

 one of those serene and brilliant nights, known 

 only in the delightful climate of Naples, a ma- 

 jestic stream of fire, 11,868 feet in length and 

 1483 in breadth, was seen at the foot of Vesu- 

 vius. Its reflected surface formed in the at- 

 mosphere a broad and brilliant aurora borealis, 

 regularly spread, and terminated at its upper 

 part by a thick and dark border of smoke, which, 

 dilating itself in the air, covered the disk of the 

 moon, the shining silvery light of which was en- 

 feebled and obscured. The sea again reflected 

 the illuminated sky, the surface of it correspond- 

 ing with this portion of the atmosphere appear- 

 ing rSd as fire. At the source of this river of 

 fire inflamed matter was incessantly spouted out 

 to a prodigious elevation, which, as it diverged 

 on all sides, resembled an immense firework: on 

 the sea-shore, finally, the mournful spectacle of 

 the conflagration of La Torre completed the 

 picture. The vast clouds of thick black smoke 

 which rose from the town, the flames which oc- 

 casionally crowned the summits of the houses, 

 the ruins of the buildings, the noise of the falling 

 palaces and houses, the rumbling of the volcano, 



