on the 29th of August, 1874. 127 



the destruction of their houses. Those who, alarmed, beat a 

 hasty retreat into the open country, might observe near the crest 

 of the mountain a column of thick black smoke and burning 

 matter which was driven into the air with great impetus and 

 fell again, scattered by the wind, the lighter portions in the 

 form of small scorise and sand at a considerable distance. 

 Shortly afterwards this column appeared, to those looking from 

 north to south, as if it became larger at the base, whilst looking 

 from east to west there seemed to be numerous columns inclined 

 slightly towards the north. These, like the first, consisted of 

 thick smoke and burning matter, which in the darkness of night 

 looked like a grand display of fireworks with a constant emission 

 of colossal rays. 



This phenomenon was at the same time accompanied by 

 those rumblings which usually manifest themselves when the 

 lava is about to burst forth from the earth, and lasted with great 

 intensity for seven hours on the 29th, from 4 till 11 a.m. For 

 the rest of that day, and during the night of the 29th, the violence 

 of the outbreak diminished ; and on Sunday the 30th its force 

 was much weakened ; and the following night there was no longer 

 any noise heard, and where the columns of fire had been nothing 

 was seen but smoke, whilst smoke only was emitted by the great 

 central crater. 



The first signs of a great eruptive paroxysm had spread con- 

 sternation in people's minds, as it seemed there could be no longer 

 any doubt that a great eruption of Etna was about to take place, 

 and that it would last for a long time, as is usually the case when 

 the outbreak occurs on the side of the mountain. Moreover a 

 great and lasting lateral eruption, when it occurs at a great ele- 

 vation, almost invariably produces serious damage, burning up 

 woods and fields, and destroying all on the surface over which 

 the lava flows. 



However, as I have said, the eruption, after lasting seven 

 hours, began unexpectedly to abate ; and so rapidly did this 

 proceed, that in the short space of two days nothing was left 

 of it but some secondary phenomena. 



To minds already alarmed there remained, however, a cause 

 of terror even when the flames had ceased, and one which kept 

 them in some uneasiness for a fortnight, namely the frequent 

 earthquakes, which commenced at 11 or 11 J on Sunday, August 

 30, at the same time that the eruption began to abate, and agi- 

 tated the ground of this neighbourhood, and continued to do so 

 incessantly for the first eight days. Those who at this time 

 visited the country lying north of Etna received a most dismal 

 impression. All the inhabitants, poor and rich alike, have 

 forsaken their dwellings; the streets and squares and the 



