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convents before it, biirR over the lufty walls tif Catania, and 

 covered five of its balllons, with the intervening cuitains ; 

 End from thence pouring down on the city, it laid wallc 

 every obieft it met with, overwhelming and b'.irying uU in 

 one promifeuou? ruin. He regrets the dellrnftion of many 

 remams of antiquity ; particularly an amphitlicatre, which he 

 calls Coi!':J'dO, the Circus Mnximus, the h'r.iimjrh'u!, and ievc- 

 ral temples. DorcUi has calculated, that the matter dif- 

 charged at thib eruption was futhcient to fdl a fpace of 

 03,838,756 cubic paces. 



The Englilh merchants, to wliofe account we have al 

 ready referred, defcribe the lava as a mafs confilling of me- 

 tals and minerals, which being rendered liquid by the fierce- 

 iiefs of tlie lire in the bowels of the eartii, boiled up and 

 gufiied forth as the water does at the head of lome great 

 river ; and having ran in a full body for a ftone's call or 

 more, the extreniii) of it became crafted, and formed thofc 

 h:u-d ftones which the people call /r/arW, and which ref^'m- 

 bled huge cakes of fea-coal ilvongly ignited. The lava thus 

 proceeded to the fea, v/hea the conflict between the two 

 elements occafioaed a noife more dreadful than the loudeft 

 thunder, which was heard to a great diilance ; the water 

 retired before it, the fifh on the coaft were dellroyed, the 

 tranfparency of the waters was loll for feveral months ; and 

 the clouds or vapours that afcended from it darkened the 

 fun. The fire, fay thefe gentlemen, fpread about three 

 miles in breadth,, and 17 miles in length. When they at- 

 tempted to go up to the mouth, whence the lava ilhud, 

 they could not advance nearer to it than a furlong, but 

 they fhould be ovenvhclmcd by a pillar of afhes, which 

 fesmei to them to exceed twice the bulk of the fteeple of 

 St. Paul's church in London, and to afcend into the air to 

 a much greater height. From the mouth proceeded a loud 

 noife, hke the beating of billows againll rocks, or dillant 

 thunder, which was at intervals fo violent as to be heard 

 60 or even 100 miles off; and fo far were the alhes carried. 

 The hole whence the lava ilTued v/as about ten feet in di- 

 ameter. Sir William Hamilton informs us, that the lava, 

 on which there were no figns of vegetation in 1769, is 14 

 miles in lengt!i, and in many parts fix in breadth, and that 

 after deftroymg many hundred monuments in Catania it ran 

 far into the fea, forming a fafe harbour, which was foon 

 after filled up by a frefli torrent of the fame inflauied 

 matter. 



The eruption of 1682 produced a burning gulf on the 

 top of the mountain, and it= lav;: was diif'iied over the h;ll 

 of Mj'z.arra. In 1686 a quantity of this ignited mttter 

 was thrown off from the fumnit ot the mountain, and after 

 confuming woods, vineyards, and crops of gra;p through 

 the extent of four leagues, its co::rfe was ftopptd in a valley 

 rear the caflle of Majcili. Several people, whofe curiofity 

 led them to watch the prrgrels of the lava on a id!', be- 

 tween the v/ood .'f Cr.iania ant the confines of Ctn-'ita 

 were buried under the hill v.'hi;h fuddenly lunk inwards. 



After a long interval of refl, the eruptions of ilitna were 

 renewed in 1755, when a prodigious toiTent of boiling water 

 ifTued from the great crater. The difcharge of water was pre- 

 ceded by fmoke r.nd f" u.ies. fubtcrraneous noife and concuf- 

 fious of the earth, the ufual figns of an approaching eruption; 

 at length the toiTen: burit forth, and formed tremendous ca- 

 tarafts in defcending from one chain of rocks to anoth':r, till 

 it readied li.e cultivated plains, which it overfpread for 

 many miles ; and after feparating into feveral deep and n.pid 

 rive--, it difcharged itfelf into the fea. The ravages of this 

 inundation, on account of both the quantity and the heat 

 of the water, were very extenfively injurious: and tliough 

 the mountain continued to throw up water only for half an 



hour, it p-.oducfd r'^t only alarm but very confiderabic 

 dannge wlierrvcr it flowed. When tiie dilehargc of water 

 ceafed, the noile, fmoke, and con.molions weie continued ; 

 and there apj aied two new chafms, from whieli two tor- 

 rents of lava iilued, and purfaerl their courfe through the 

 fnow, which covered the funiu-.it of the mountain. The 

 difchai-;re of v/, *er v/as followed in five days by an ( \pIofioii 

 of fuiall !loii..s and fand, foine of Wi'jh were carried as far 

 as the hills of Mufcali ; and the blac'v fai.d was driven to 

 Meffina, and even over the Ilrait to Reggio in Calabiia. 

 Some of the fand was conveyed, by the (liifthig of the wind, 

 to the plains of Agolla. In two days the mountain opciied 

 again, and difcharged a torrent of lava which moved to- 

 wards the plain, at the rate of a mile a day,.and continued 

 for fix days. 



Recupero examined the courfe of the torrent of water 

 above me:itioned. He found that it proceeded from the 

 bowels of the mountain, and purfuing a channel which 

 it formed from the fummit to the fea, it gained acceffion 

 from the melted fnow; and in its progirfs dellroyed a 

 large forell of trees, which were torn up by the violence 

 of the current, thougii fome of them were not lefs than 

 tv.'o and two and a half feet in diameter. The main tonent 

 divided into four principal llreams, and thefe again icparat- 

 ed into fmaller currents ; but afterwards reuniting, they 

 formed iHaiids, and larger rivers, about 900 feet wide, and 

 of a depth which could not be tafily afceitained. The 

 channel of the waters, in their farther defcent, was alter- 

 nately contratled and dilatvd ; and in fome places it was not 

 lefs than 1500 feet. Fragments of lava, and huge rocks, 

 were removed by the current, and valleys were filled up by 

 the fand which the waters depofited. When Recupero 

 vifited the mountain, after an interval of ten years from the 

 eruption, the whole fide of the hill bore the mrtrks of the 

 deluge. In 17G3 there was an eruption, which continued 

 with^ intenniffions for three months. From the crater, 

 opened on this occafion, a pyramid of fire iffued ; whick 

 afcended to a great height in the air, and exhibited an ar- 

 tificial fire-work, attended with the explofion of a formid- 

 able battery, which fiiook the earth under thofe who were 

 fpedators of the fcene. The lava that flowed from the 

 crater yielded a vei-y brilliant light, retained its heat, and 

 exhaled its fmoke for two years ; nor did any fnow ap- 

 pear on the fummit of TEtna for five years. In i 764, a new- 

 crater w ij, opened at a confiderabic diilance from jEtna ; and 

 in 1766 another was opened at the grotto of Paterno, which 

 formed a mountain that after an interval of four years dif- 

 charged great quantities of fmoke, with loud explofions. 

 In th.is interval the lava was not cooled, nor was the fire 

 e-.-.tinguifheu. Its fury was fpent on a beautiful forell, 

 \Svhich it laid wafte, to the extent of many miles. In 1780, 

 the convulfions of the mountain were often renewed, and 

 feveral new craters were formed : and from tiiefe flowed 

 ilreamsjof lava, which moved with diflTerent velocities, and 

 in various direftions. The moft confiderabic of thefe flowed 

 from a crater on Mount Frumento on the fummit of 'iEtna; 

 and flowing in a llream about 200 paces in breadth, at the 

 rate of about a mile in a day, fpread through the valley of 

 Landunza. From another crater red hot ilones were pro- 

 jeiled, and a current of lava was difcharged, which flowed 

 over a traft of exjuntry two miles in extent. 



The next eruption of jEtna happened in July, 1787, and 

 has been accurately defcribed by Gioeni, in an account of 

 it printed at Catania in the fame year, of which we have a 

 French tranflation, by M. Dulomieu, at the clofe of his. 

 Catalogue Jialfonrie. It was preceded by the ufual figns of 

 an appspaching eruption for fever.d days, ;. r. from the I ft 



