ERUPTION OF VULCANO 69 



like hail such a cannonading going on ! I understood 

 what was the matter, and ran to the opposite room, where 

 I had made my children sleep that night. They were 

 also up in consequence of the indescribable noise of 

 thunder, rush of gases, flames, falling of huge boulders 

 and rocks. I took them to the drawing-room, but as 

 soon as the door was opened, a big stone, red-hot for all 

 these stones were quite red with heat fell through the 

 ceiling and floor a few yards from us, smashing all, setting 

 fire to everything. Now I took my children back to my 

 bedroom, which looks on the verandah, and tried to gain 

 the terrace by that side. The house doors were shivering 

 and shaking, so that it was a difficult matter to open them. 

 At last I succeeded, but before we were out in the 

 verandah another stone fell at our feet, was smashed to 

 fragments, and burned the feet and legs of my boys. 

 Now we passed through the verandah, and regained the 

 house at the top of the stairs ; here another stone fell near 

 us. None of these stones was less than two feet in 

 diameter. This last stone, the fourth that struck the 

 house, had nearly blocked our way out with the rubbish 

 it brought from the roof. We passed through over the 

 heap of rubbish, and were now out in the open to the 

 north of the house. By this time (not many minutes 

 after all) the whole place was lighted up. Woods, grass, 

 buildings, hedges all was on fire ; the huge boulders and 

 stones were literally raining everywhere about us. What 

 confusion ! Nathali, the faithful boy, had by this time 

 come to the help of my little boys. We all began to run 

 to Vulcanello and away from the dreadful thundering 

 mountain. All the communication we possessed at 

 Vulcano consisted in an old half-broken 20-foot boat, and 

 a lighter, both of which the men in their panic had taken 

 away with them, leaving us on the sands of Vulcanello. 

 Towards noon, however, boats of rescue reached us from 



