)(; VOLCANIC ISLANDS 



in the name of His Britanic Majesty, and left an English Union-Jack 

 flying on it. 



The circumference of the island, which was of a circular form, was 

 at this time about a mile. In the middle was a large basin of boiling 

 water, whence a stream, about six yards across, ran into the sea on the 

 side facing St. Michael, and at the distance of fifty yards from the shore 

 the water, although thirty fathoms deep, was too hot to hold the hand in. 

 In short, the whole island appeared as a crater ; the cliff on the outside 

 as walls, steep within and without. The appearance of the volcano, 

 prior to the crater showing itself above the surface, as seen from the 

 nearest point of St. Michael, on a cliff about 400 feet above the sea, was 

 that of an immense body of smoke, revolving in the water almost hori- 

 zontally, in varied involutions, when suddenly would shoot up a column 

 of the blackest cinders, ashes, and stones, in form like a spire, and rising 

 to windward at an angle of 10 to 20 degrees from the perpendicular. 

 The columns of ashes, &c., at their greatest height, formed into branches, 

 resembling magnificent pines, and as they fell mixing with the festoons 

 of white smoke, at one time assumed the appearance of plumes of black 

 and white ostrich feathers, at another, that of light wavy branches of the 

 weeping willow. These bursts were accompanied by explosions of the 

 most vivid lightning, and a noise like the continual fire of cannon and 

 musketry ; and as the cloud of smoke rolled off to leeward, it drew up 

 the water spouts above mentioned, which formed a beautiful, and strik- 

 ing addition to the scene. 



Subsequently this islet sunk gradually into the sea, and in the middle 

 of October no part was left above the water, but a dangerous shoal re- 

 mained in the place, and exists to this day. In February, 1812, smoke 

 was again discovered issuing out of the sea near the spot. Another of 

 these volcanic islands suddenly rose from the bosom of the sea, opposite 

 to Sicily, July 1831, and is thus described by a party of English gentle- 

 men, who visited it. They left the shore of Sciacca at 9 o'clock in the 

 evening. There was a beautiful bright moon, and they were further 

 favored by a gentle breeze blowing from land in the direction of the 

 island. A little before sunrise they were awakened by violent explosions, 

 that warned them that they were near the volcano ; and, rising, they saw 

 at a short distance two hills surmounted by a column of smoke. The 

 curious island of Pantellaria, which has evidently been thrown up in the 

 same manner, by a sub-marine eruption, though it is now inhabited, and 

 partially cultivated, was seen in the distance to the west They calcu- 

 lated that they had sailed about 36 miles, and that the new island was 



