312 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



of Vulcan there established. Thia (4 B.C.) rose at 

 the distance of about 300 yards from Hiera. The 

 details given by the ancient geographers, therefore, 

 agree with each other. 



Violent eruptions of cinders, rocks, and lava, in a 

 state of ignition, filled the arm of the sea which 

 separated Thia from Hiera in the year 726 of our 

 era. 



Similar phenomena occurred in 1427, as is at- 

 tested by a marble monument erected in Santorin, 

 near Fort Scauro. A new island, designated Xea- 

 Kameni {New Burnt-island), appeared in 1570, at 

 the termination of a sixth eruption. Hiera was 

 then called Paloe-Kameni, which signifies Old Burnt- 

 island. 



We owe to Father Kircher the details of an eruption 

 which, in 1650, threw these coasts into trouble during 

 a whole year. It was accompanied by showers 

 of cinders and whirlwinds of flame, which were seen 

 to issue from the sea. The quantity of cinders 

 thrown out was so considerable, that Smyrna and 

 Constantinople were much inconvenienced. 



A new island was thrown up in 1707. Mons. J. 

 Girardin describes this phenomenon in the following 

 words: "On the 23rd of May, 1707, at sunrise, a 

 floating rock was seen at sea about a league from the 

 shore of Santorin. Some sailors took it for a ship 



