105 



The ground is very hot, and, from near twenty vents, is- 

 sues a smoke of a strong sulphureous smell. The whole 

 soil seems powdered with brimstone, which forms a 

 beautifully coloured surface. Almost all the stones 

 thereabouts are of a greenish colour, sparkling with a 

 yellow, like gold. On the middle of one of the rocks 

 is a hole, about two inches in diameter. Hence pro- 

 ceeds a noise like that of a great body of liquors boil- 

 ing very strongly. And so hot a steam comes from it, 

 as will burn the'hand, even at a quarter of a yard's dis- 

 tance. 



A small part of the sugar-loaf is white like lime ; 

 another small part is covered with salt. But the far 

 greatest part is covered with snow, almost throughout 

 the year. 



The accounts given of its height are exceeding varu 

 ous. But a gentleman some years ago, who measured 

 it exactly, fouud the perpendicular height to be two 

 thousand five hundred aiad sixty-six fathom. 



14. When it happens that any inflammable substance 

 takes fire in the caverns of the earth, the air contained 

 therein is rarefied and exploded with aa immense force. 

 Hereby not only the arch which covers it, but the whole 

 body of the incumbent earth is shaken. And this is 

 one species of earthquakes. In this case, the deeper 

 the cavern is, and the larger the quantity of matter which 

 takes fire, the more extensive and the more violent the 

 earthquake. If the cavern is near the surface of the 

 earth, the fire often issues out of it ; and the lower 

 parts being eaten away, the ground sinks in, and swal- 

 lows up houses or whole cities. 



But, to consider this point a little more minutely. As 

 some earthquakes are awing to fire, so are some to air, 

 others to water, and others to earth itself. 1. The earth 

 itself may be the occasion" of its own shaking, when the 

 root or basis of some large mass being worn away, that 

 mass sinks in by its own weight, and causes a concussion 

 of all the neighbouring parts. 2. Subterraneous waters 

 wash away the foundations of hills, and eat far under 

 F 4 



