292 Notice of Active and Extinct Volcano s. 



the approaches to Sassa, that the traveller meets with groupes 

 of crevices, and volcanic mounds, of so frightful a size, that he 

 is seized with horror, which is increased if he allows his imagin- 

 ation to wander to the period, when these masses were hurled 

 forth with violence from the bowels of the earth. There are 

 evident signs that all this country was formerly filled with volca- 

 nos, for we beheld several small craters in traversing the plain. ,: 



Our author is inclined, likewise, to conclude, that the coun- 

 try around the lake of Tiberias is volcanic. 



It is obvious that these general views concerning the vol- 

 canic features of this country are not inconsistent with the late 

 statements of the American missionaries,* confirmed by spe- 

 cimens, which go to prove that a great deal of Palestine is 

 composed of transition and secondary limestone ; for vol- 

 canic eruptions occasionally visit nearly every variety of geo- 

 logical formation, and the currents and ejections cover them 

 and intrude among them wherever they may chance to be 

 driven. 



Although there are now, no eruptions in Palestine, there 

 are still earthquakes as in ancient times — " which changed 

 the face of Antioch, Laodicea, Tripoli, Berytus, Tyre and Si- 

 don. 1 ' In 1759, there happened one which destroyed twen- 

 ty thousand persons, in the valley of Balbec. For three 

 months the shocks so much terrified the inhabitants of Leb- 

 anon that they abandoned their houses and dwelt under tents. 

 Very recently, and even within three or four years, Antioch has 

 been severely shaken and the lives of many people destroyed. 



We shall not occupy our readers long with the interior of 

 Asia. There seems to have been, in 1737, a volcano near 

 Scandaroon, and near Smyrna there is a district of country 

 which from its burnt and arid appearance was called xutaxs- 

 xajvfisv*}. Strabo says, " it is without trees with the excep- 

 tion of the vine ; the surface of the ground is cindery and 

 the mountains and rocks are black as if they had been cal- 

 cined. 1 ' Strabo mentions volcanic appearances in the neigh- 

 borhood of Laodicea. Mr. Brown, the African traveller says: 



" My eyes have been very much opened in this journey, to 

 the volcanic nature of certain parts of Asia Minor and its con- 

 fines. At Kolah, near the Hermus, only three days from Smyr- 

 na, may be seen an unquestionable site of volcanic eruption. 



* See Vol. IX, page 337, and Vol. X, page 21, of this Journal. 



