VOLCANO. 



no ground for anchorage near it. The ancients have left us 

 the foUovring account of the eruptions in its vicinity. 



In the fourth year of the 135th Olympiad, or 236 B. C, 

 the idand of Therafia rofe in the midft of fire from the fea ; 

 it is feparated from Santorini by a ftrait of a mile and a half 

 in breadth. 



A hundred and thirty years afterwards, the ifland of 

 Automate, called alfo Hiera, rofe near it ; and one hundred 

 and ten years after this, another idand, called Thia, rofe two 

 hundred and fifty paces from Hiera. Thefe three erup- 

 tions are recorded by Pliny, in the place above cited ; by 

 Strabo, lib. i. ; and by Seneca, in the Quxftiones Naturales, 

 lib. vi. cap. 21. 



Since the Chriftian era, we have the following accounts 

 of the fubmarine eruptions near Santorini. 



In the year 726, Thia was joined to Hiera by a quantity 

 of lava ejeAed, together with afhes and red-hot rocks. 



In 1457, the ifland was ftill farther increafed by a fimilar 

 eruption. This event and the date are attetled by an in- 

 fcription on a marble ftone erefted near the gate of fort 

 Scaumo, in Santorini. 



A fixth eruption, in 1576, produced a new ifland, called 

 the Little Kamenoi. 



According to the account of Kircher, a cotemporary 

 author, there was an eruption in 1650, which lafted a 

 twelvemonth, from the 24th of September to the 9th of 

 Oftober in the following year. " The fea rofe to the height 

 of forty-five feet, and that at fuch a diftance, that fome gal- 

 leys of the grand feignor's were wrecked in the port of 

 Candia, fituated more than eighty miles from Santorini, and 

 Smyrna and Conftantinople were incommoded with the afhes, 

 which rufhed out of the fea in whirlwinds of flame. Another 

 great eruption took place in 1707 and 1708, whereby the 

 Little Kamenoi was increafed, and is now more than three 

 leagues in circumference. On the 23d of May, I707» 

 after an earthquake that happened the night before, a new 

 ifland was difcovered by fome feamen, who taking it for a 

 wreck, rowed immediately toward it, but finding rocks and 

 earth, inft.ead of the remains of a fliip, haft;ened back, and 

 fpread the ngws of what they had feen in Santorini. How 

 great foever the apprehenfions of the inhabitants were at the 

 firft fight, their furprife foon abated ; and in a few days, 

 feeing no appearance of fire or fmoke, fome of them ven- 

 tured to land on the new ifland. Their curiofity led them 

 from rock to rock, where they found a kind of white ttone, 

 that cut hke bread, which it nearly refembled in its form and 

 confiilence. They alfo found many oyfters flicking to the 

 rocks ; but while they were employed in gathering them, 

 the ifland moved and fliook under their feet, upon which 

 they ran with precipitation to their boats. With thefe 

 motions and tremblings the ifland increafed not only in 

 height, but in length and breadth ; yet fometimes, while it 

 was raifed and extended on one fide, it funk and diminiflied 

 on the otlier. 



" Our author obferved a rock rife out of the fea forty or 

 fifty paces from the ifland, which having continued four days, 

 funk, and appealed no more ; but feveral others appeared 

 and difappeared alternately, till at laft they remained fixed 

 and unmoved. In the mean time, the colour of the fur- 

 rounding fea was changed : at firft it was of a light green, 

 then reddifli, and afterwards of a pale yellow, accompanied 

 with a noifome flench, which fpread itfelf over part of 

 Santorini. 



" On the 1 6th of July the fmoke firft appeared, not indeed 

 from the ifland, but from a ridge of black Hones which fud- 

 denly rofe about fixty paces from it, where the depth of 

 the fea was unfathomable. Thus there were two fc-paratc 



iflands, one called the White and the other tlic Black ifland, 

 from their different appearances. This thick fmoke was of 

 a whitifli colour, like that of a lime-kiln, and vias carried by 

 the wind to Santorini, where it penetrated the houfes of the 

 inhabitants. 



" In the night between the 19th and 20th of July, flames 

 began to iflue with the fmoke, to the great terror of the in- 

 habitants of Santorini, efpecially thofe of the caftle of 

 Scaro, who were not above a mile and a half diftant from 

 the burning ifland, which now increafed very faft, large 

 rocks daily fpringing up, which fometimes added to its 

 length, and fometimes to its breadth. The fmoke alfo in- 

 creafed, and there being no wind, it afcended fo high as to 

 be feen at Candia and other diftant iflands. During the 

 night it refembled a column of fire, fifteen or twenty feet 

 high ; and the fea was then covered with a fcurf or froth, in 

 fome places reddifli, and in others yellowifli, from which 

 proceeded fuch a ftench, that the inhabitants throughout 

 the whole ifland of Santorini burnt perfumes in their 

 houfes, and made fires in the ftreets to prevent infeftion. 

 This indeed did not laft above a day or two, for a ftrong 

 gale of wind difperfed the froth, but drove the fmoke upon 

 the vineyards of Santorini, by which the grapes in one night 

 were parched up and deftroyed. This fmoke alfo caufed 

 violent head- aches, attended with retchings. 



" On the 31ft of July, the fea fmoked and bubbled in 

 two different places near the ifland, where the water formed 



a perfeft circle, and looked like oil when ready to boil. 

 This continued above a month, during which many fifli were 

 found dead on the ftiore of Santorini. The following night 

 a dull hollow noife was heard, like the diftant report of feveral 

 cannon, which was inftantly followed by flames of fire, 

 fliooting up to a great height in the air, where they fud- 

 denly difappeared. The next day the fame hollow found 

 was feveral times heard, and fucceeded by a blackifli fmoke, 

 which, notwithftanding a frefli gale blew at that time, rofe 

 up in the form of a column to a prodigious height, and 

 would probably in tlie night have appeared as if on fire. 



" On the 7th of Auguft the noife was diff'erent, it re- 

 fembled that of large ftones thrown all together into a deep 

 well. This noife having lafted fome days, was fucceeded by 

 another much louder, fo nearly refembling thunder, as 

 hardly to be diftinguiflied from three or four real claps that 

 happened at the fame time. 



" On the 2 1 ft, the fire and fmoke very confiderably dimi- 

 niflied, but the next morning they broke out with greater 

 fury than before. The fmoke was red and very thick ; and 

 the heat was fo intenfe, that all around the ifland the fea 

 fmoked and bubbled in a furprifing manner. At night, 

 our author viewing with a telcfcope a large furnace upon the 

 higheft part of the ifland, difcovered fixty fmaller openings 

 or funnels, all emitting a very bright flame ; and he ima- 

 gined there might be many more on the other fide of the 

 great volcano. On the 23d of Auguft, in the morning, 

 the ifland was much higher than the day before, and its 

 breadth was increafed by a chain of rocks, fprung up in the 

 night almoft fifty feet above the water. The fea was alfo 

 again covered with reddifli froth, which always appeared 

 when the ifland received any confiderable additions, and oc 

 cafioned nn intolerable ftench, till it was difperfed by the wind 

 and the motion of the waves. 



" On the 5th of September the fire opened another vent 

 at the extremity of Black ifland, from which it iffucd for 

 feveral days, during which but Uttle was difcharged from 

 the large furnace : and from this new paflage the aftoniflicd 

 fpeftators beheld the fire dart up three feveral times, to a vail 

 heiglit, refembling fo many prodigious fliy. rockets, of a 



glowing 



