THE EARTH. 41 



arhen t candle was brought within about a foot of the surface < f the 

 water, caught flame like spirit of wine, and continued blazing for several 

 hours after. Of this kind, also, are the perpetual fires in the king- 

 dom of Persia. In that province, where the worshippers of fire hold 

 their chief mysteries, the whole surface of the earth, for some extent, 

 seems impregnated with inflammable vapours. A reed stuck into the 

 ground continues to burn like a flambeau; a hole made beneath the 

 surface of the earth, instantly becomes a furnace, answering all the 

 purposes of a culinary fire. There they make lime by merely bury- 

 ing the stones in the earth, and watch with veneration the appearances 

 of a flame that has not been extinguished for times immemorial. How 

 different are men in various climates! This deluded people worship 

 the vapours as a deity, which, in other parts of the world are consider- 

 ed as one of the greatest evils. 



CHAPTER IX. 



OP VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES. 



MINES and caverns, as we have said, reach but a very little way 

 under the surface of the earth, and we have hitherto had no oppor- 

 tunities of exploring farther. Without all doubt, the wonders that are 

 still unknown surpass those that have been represented, as there are 

 depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. 

 The only tidings we have from these unfathomable regions are by means 

 of volcanoes, those burning mountains that seem to discharge their 

 materials from the lowest abysses of the earth.* A volcano may be 

 considered as a cannon of immense size, the mouth of which is often 

 near two miles in circumference. From this dreadful aperture are 

 discharged torrents of flame and sulphur, and rivers of melted metal. 

 Whole clouds of smoke and ashes, with rocks of enormous size, are dis- 

 charged to many miles distance ; so that the force of the most power- 

 ful artillery, is but as a breeze agitating a feather in comparison. In 

 the deluge of fire and melted matter which runs down the sides of the 

 mountain, whole cities are sometimes swallowed up and consumed. 

 Those rivers of liquid fire are sometimes two hundred feet deep ; and 

 when they harden, frequently form considerable hills. Nor is the 

 danger of these confined to the eruption only ; but the force of the 

 internal fire struggling for vent, frequently produces earthquakes 

 through the whole region where the volcano is situated. So dreadful 

 have been these appearances, that men's terrors have added new hor- 

 rors to the scene, and they have regarded as prodigies, what we know 

 to be the result of natural causes. Some philosophers have consider- 

 ed them as vents communicating with the fires of the centre ; and the 

 ignorant, as the mouths of hell itself. Astonishment produces fear, 

 and fear superstition : the inhabitants of Iceland believe the bellow- 

 ings of Hecla are nothing else but the cries of the damned, and lhat 

 its eruptions are contrived to increase their tortures. 



Buffon, vol . p. 291. 



