100 KAMBLES OF A NATUKALIST. 



most eminent savants, and which have even been 

 admitted into technical works which are on other 

 accounts most justly esteemed. 



On the eighth of March, 1669, a terrible hurricane 

 arose suddenly at break of day and continued to rage 

 for about half an hour, shaking all the houses of 

 Nicolosi, and thus serving as a precursor to the 

 disasters which were about to lay waste the country. 

 The following night was ushered in by an earth- 

 quake, and the shocks gradually increased in intensity 

 until the Sunday, when the walls of the houses 

 began to fall in. The terrified population sought 

 safety, in the open country, and during the night of 

 Monday a formidable shock threw down all the 

 houses of the town. The earthquake now became 

 more violent from hour to hour. The trees and the 

 few huts that were still standing, oscillated like so 

 many pieces of wood floating on the surface of a 

 troubled sea, and men, unable to keep their footing 

 on this moving ground, stumbled and fell at every 

 fresh undulation. At this moment the earth opened 

 for a length of twelve miles from the Piano di San- 

 Lio to Monte Frumento, one of the secondary cones 

 which lie the nearest to the summit of Etna. The 

 fissure thus made inclined from south-west to north- 

 east, and was from four to six feet wide, but its 

 depth could not be sounded, notwithstanding the 

 frequent attempts that were made to ascertain it. 

 At length the flames of Etna burst through the soil, 

 which had been so often broken and rebroken. The 

 first mouth was opened to the west of Monte Nu- 

 cilla, and threw into the air a column of sand and 



