176 EARTIIGUAKbB. Ji' 
him, that on the fatal 5lh of Febraaiy, and the 
lowing days, the sea, at the distance of about a 
a mile from that fortress, rose and boiled in a niosl 
ordinary manner, and with a horrid and alarmii'S / 
while tile water in the other parts of the Faro 
Icctly calm. Thi.s appeared to him to point o"*- fg j** 
tioiis or eruptions from cracks at the bottom ot 
W'hich 
(il 
were probably made during tlie violence 
earthquakes and to these jihenomena he ascribe^ 
canic origin. He thus attempts to explain the I'f'JV', 
the formidable wave which was represented as boihj’^^il’ 
and which, a.i ha.s been already noticed, was so fttal 
e wave which was representi 
' eady noticed, was so . 
inhabitants of Scylla. j/: 
Sir William coneindes bv remarking, that 
earthquakes here described, appear to iiave been 
tlie same kind of matter as tliat wliicli gave birtl’ ^ 
iEoliau or l.ipari i.slands. Fie conjectures that an 
may have been made at tlie bottom of the sea, 
baljly between Stromboli and Upper Calabria; 
iJiat quarter, it \vas on all hands agreed, the subtet' .^ji 
noises seemed to proceed. 
new island, or volcano, may have been laid, alth°^f|, 
may be ages, which to nature arc but moments, 
He adds, that the foun‘'‘'% , 
• bo‘!=, , 
shall be completed, and apjiear above the surtacc^^i/; 
sea. Nature is ever active ; but her acts are i" 
carried on so very slowly, as .scarcely to be perccfb^^jU 
the mortal view, or recorded in the very short *l‘ ,/ 
” '■ — 
wliat we call history, let it be ever so ancient. '.,• 11 ' 
b*ble, also, he observes, that the whole of the , 
lie has described, may have simply proceeded 
exhalations of contined \ apouis, generated by 
tatiou of such minerals a.s produce volcanoes, wln'^b 
1 jj 
escape where iliey met witli the least resistance, 
co; 
Ir 
onseqi-..-uily atlcct ihe^ plain in a greater degree 
igh and more solid groni;ds by which it is surround ^ 
Count Fnmce.sco Ippolito, in .speaking of the 
shock. of the a8th (jf March, as it affected the 
ol .1 
territuiy, is persuaded that it aro,se from an intern^'.JJ i)j 
the bowels of the earth, as it took place preci.self 
•Mdl'fJ 
jnonntains \v hich cross tlie neck of the pcninsuk*> 
by' the tw'o rivers, the Lameto and the Corace, the , 
■ . . . 311 “ 
of wiik'h flows into tlie Gulf of St. Eupheniinj 
