98 VOLCANOES; EARTHQUAKES. 



years. The volcanic cone of Tolima had been at 

 rest for two centuries, when a violent outburst in 

 November, 1827, showed that the internal forces 

 were still at work. Again, Inibaburu had long 

 been considered as extinct, when in the year 1691 

 it overwhelmed a large tract of land with a dis- 

 charge of mud and water. The outbursts of some 

 other burning mountains are more frequent. Thus 

 of Etna, sixty are known to have happened within 

 two thousand years. Yesuvius has been at least 

 eighty times in violent action since the first erup- 

 tion, of which we have so lively a description by 

 Pliny the younger; and during the present 

 century it has scarcely ceased to vomit fire. We 

 know of twenty-five outbursts of Hecla having 

 been recorded since the beginning of the eleventh 

 century: the last, which commenced in 1845, 

 was still going on in the autumn of 1846. 

 Gonung Api in the isle of Banda, and Tofua 

 in one of the Friendly Islands in the Pacific, 

 have been throwing up red-hot matter ever since 

 we have known them. The little volcano of 

 Stromboli, too, is remarkable for having been in 

 restless activity, so far as we know, for a thousand 

 years. It throws up slags and pumice-stone at 

 intervals, usually of a few minutes, with greater 

 force at certain periods ; but the quantity is com- 

 paratively small, and is seldom accompanied with 

 lava. 



