400 Appendix. 



The elevation of Graham Island, in lat. 37^ W N., and long. 

 12° 44' E., in the Mediterranean Sea, between Pantellaria and Sci~ 

 acca, which took })}ace in the month of July, 183], has been observ- 

 ed at different stages of its progress, and has been attended with 

 phenomena of such decided utility to this inquiry, that they will be 

 my excuse for intruding upon your pages some remarks connected 

 with its origin and general character. 



The drawings which accompany this notice are from the pencil of 

 Mr. W. Russell, of His Majesty's Ship St. Vincent, and are fac- 

 similes of the drawings sent by the same gentleman to His Royal 

 Highness the Duke of Sussex, and since published by Ackermann ; 

 and of those transmitted to the Admiralty, and published in the Jour- 

 nal of the Royal Geographical Society. In both these cases the art- 

 ists have made such alterations, in rounding the outline and altering 

 the true configuration of the island, as materially to affect their utility 

 in a scientific point of view. 



According to published documents {Times, August 31, 1831 ; 

 Journal of the Royal Geological Society of London, 1830-31) the 

 Neapolitan schooner Psyche discovered, on the 12th of July, smoke 

 on the water between Sicily and Pantellaria, where the island is now 

 situated ; and, on the 17th of July, the master of the brig Adelaide, 

 from London, distinguished fire ; and it is probable that at this period 

 the land rose to the surface. On the 18th of the same month. Com- 

 mander C. H. Swinburne observed, from on board His Majesty's ship 

 Rapid, a long irregular column of smoke or steam, accompanied by 

 eruptions of fire, bearing south by east ; the town of Marsala bear- 

 ing by compass east half north 9 miles. On nearing, a small hillock 

 of a dark color was observed a few feet above the sea. The volca- 

 no was at this period in a constant state of activity, discharging dust 

 and stones with vast columns of steam. The island appeared to be 

 70 or 80 yards in its external diameter, and the lip as thin as it could 

 be, consistent with its height, which might be 20 ft. above the sea in 

 the highest, and 6 ft. in the lowest part, leaving the rest for the diam- 

 eter of the area within. 



From information accompanying Mr. Russell's sketch, it appears 

 that the circumference of the island on the 23d was f of a mile. The 

 highest point was 80 ft. above the level of the sea, and the jets of 

 water rose to a height of from 800 to 1000 ft., and bore up immense 

 quantities of cinders and stones, which sometimes attained nearly 

 double that height. 



