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The National Geographic Magazine 



The Ruins of Boscotrecase, 1906, the Work of Flowing L,ava. The stone heap 



on the left is lava 



slopes of a dune. Pure white steam 

 boiled up slowly from the crater. In one 

 instance it burst out radially over the 

 edge of the crater, showing a ring on 

 the border, a dome of cumulus above and 

 within, and a second still higher outer 

 ring made of an older rain-cloud which 

 had been punctured and pushed up 

 bodily. The effect was like a hat on the 

 mountain's crown. At night the cone 

 was clear and entirely without luminosity. 

 Professor Matteuci was found on his 

 return from an ascent, in which he had 

 been accompanied by Dr Sjogren, of 

 Stockholm, and Mr Perret, a graduate of 

 the Brooklyn Polytechnic. They had been 

 in the clouds, and their faces were most 

 picturesquely plastered with blown dust, 

 but they had been unable to see anything, 



so dense was the fog of steam and sand.. 

 The next morning, with a strong west 

 wind, we started up. Besides the writer, 

 the party consisted of three members of 

 the Alpine Club of Great Britain and a 

 guide. The Alpineers were Dr Tempest 

 Anderson and Messrs Yeld and Brigg, all 

 of Yorkshire. The steam was settling 

 down in clouds on the summit from time 

 to time, in alternation with clear spells. 

 The route followed the extension of the 

 tramway to the place where the lower 

 Funicular station had been, and then the 

 western profile of the cone was followed 

 straight up. The rails along the foot of 

 the cave had been twisted and torn by 

 landslides. Most of the old track and 

 the lower station were buried, but not 

 under lava. No new lava was anywhere 



