DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC 



stones were thrown up all together into the air, 

 and fell again into the sea at about two miles 

 distance. From this time to the 23d of May, 

 which might be called the anniversary of the birth 

 of the new island, things continued much in the 

 same state ; but afterward the fire and smoke by 

 degrees subsided, and the subterraneous thunders 

 became less terrible. 



" On the 15th of July, 1709, our author, ac- 

 companied by the Romish Bishop of Santorini, 

 and some other ecclesiastics, hired a boat to take 

 a near view of the island. They made directly 

 toward it on that side where the sea did not bub- 

 ble, but where it smoked very much. Being got 

 into this vapour, they felt a close suffocating heat, 

 and found the water very hot ; upon which they 

 directed their course toward a part of the island at 

 the farthest distance from the large furnace. The 

 fires, which still continued to burn, and the boil- 

 ing of the sea, obliged them to take a great com- 

 pass, and yet they felt the air about them very 

 hot and sultry. Having encompassed the island, 

 and surveyed it carefully from an adjacent one, 

 they judged it to be two hundred feet above the 

 sea, about a mile broad, and five miles in circum- 

 ference ; but not being thoroughly satisfied, they 

 resolved to attempt to land, and accordingly 



