VOLCANOES 203 



11 It is both terrible and beautiful," said Jules. 

 "Oh! how I should like to see an eruption, but far 

 off, of course. " 



"And the people who are on the mountain?" ques- 

 tioned Emile. 



"They are careful not to go on the mountain at 

 that time; they might lose their lives, suffocated by 

 tlir smoke or crushed by the shower of red-hot stones. 



"Meantime, from the depths of the mountain, 

 through the volcanic chimney, ascends a flux of 

 melted mineral substance, or lava, which pours out 

 into the crater and forms a lake of fire as dazzling 

 as the sun. Spectators who, from the plain, anx- 

 iously follow the progress of the eruption, are 

 warned of the coming of the lava-flood by the bril- 

 liant illumination it throws on the volumes of smoke 

 floating in the upper air. But the crater is full ; then 

 tin- ground suddenly shakes, bursts open with a noise 

 of thunder, and through the crevasses as well as over 

 the edges of the crater the lava flows in streams. 

 The fiery current, formed of dazzling and paste-like 

 matter similar to melted metal, advances slowly ; the 

 front of the lava-stream resembles a moving ram- 

 part on fire. One can flee before it, but everything 

 stationary is lost. Trees blaze a moment on contact 

 with the lava and sink down, reduced to charcoal ; the 

 thickest walls are calcined and fall over; the hardest 

 rocks are vitrified, melted. 



"The flow of lava comes to an end, sooner or later. 



Thru subterranean vapors, freed from the enormous 



me of the fluid mass, escape with more violence 



than ever, carrying with them whirlwinds of fine dust 



