252 REACTION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH 



or furnace ; and looking down upon it at any time from 

 the margin of the crater, one sees the fluid lava mount- 

 ing and overflowing. The permanent eruptions of Strom- 

 boli still serve, as in ancient times, as a guide to mariners ; 

 and also, by the direction of the flame and of the as- 

 cending vapours, afford, as they did to the Greeks and 

 Romans, uncertain prognostications as to weather. The 

 various signs of a near change of wind are connected 

 with the myth of Eolus's first residence at Strongyle, 

 and still more with observations on the then vivid fire on 

 Volcano (the " sacred isle of Hephaestos" Vulcan), by 

 Polybius, who shows a remarkably exact knowledge of 

 the state of the crater. The frequency of the fiery ap- 

 pearances has in recent times shown some irregularity. 

 The activity of Stromboli, as well as that of Etna, is, 

 according to Sartorius von Waltershausen, greatest in 

 November and the winter months. It is sometimes 

 interrupted by pauses of repose ; but these, as the ex- 

 perience of many centuries has shown, are of short 

 duration. 



The Chimsera in Lycia, which has been so excel- 

 lently described by Admiral Beaufort, and of which 

 I have already twice spoken, ( 375 ) is not a volcano, but 

 a perpetual fire-fountain, or a spring of gas kept always 

 in a state of ignition by the volcanic activity of the 

 interior of the earth. It has been recently visited by 

 a talented artist, Albert Berg, for the purpose of 

 obtaining picturesque views of a locality famed from 

 high antiquity (since the times of Ctesias and Scylax 

 of Caryanda), and to collect specimens of the rocks 

 from amidst which the flame of the Chimsera issues 

 forth. The descriptions of Beaufort, Edward Forbes, 



