THE COASTS OF SICILY. 103 



territories had wholly disappeared beneath these in- 

 candescent masses. On the 4th of April the lava 

 came within sight of the walls of Catania, and ex- 

 tended on to the Campagna of the Albanelli. Here, 

 as if to show its power, it first lifted up and trans- 

 ported to a considerable distance an argillaceous hill, 

 covered with cornfields, and then an entire vine- 

 yard, which floated for some time on its burning 

 waves. After having levelled various inequalities 

 of land, and destroyed several other vineyards, the 

 lava at length reached a broad and deep valley, 

 called the Gurna di Niceto. The Catanians now 

 believed themselves secure from further danger, for 

 they thought that the volcano would exhaust its 

 forces before it could fill this enormous valley. What 

 must then have been their terror, when they dis- 

 covered that in the short space of six hours the 

 valley was completely filled, while the lava, flowing 

 straight towards them, stopped at a stone's throw from 

 the walls, like an enemy who pitches his camp before 

 the fortress which he is about to assail. 



The 12th of April seemed destined to witness the 

 ruin of Catania, for a stream of lava nearly a mile 

 and a half wide, and more than thirty feet high, ad- 

 vanced in a direct line towards the town. Being 

 fortunately struck in its course by another current 

 which was flowing westward, it turned aside, and 

 running within a pistol shot of the ramparts it passed 

 beyond the harbour, and finally reached the sea on 

 the 23rd of April. Then began a contest between 

 the water and the fire, which even those who were 

 eye witnesses of these terrible scenes seem to have 



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