041 
Itidcs iviio had sought (he shore, were swallowed up h)? the waves > 
tli^ vipes, corn, arid trees of every description, were burnt up, and the 
fields rendered unfit for cultivation by being covered with stones. 
In 1181 an eruption broke forth on the eastern side, on which 
occasion streams of lava ran down the mountain, and encircled the 
church of St. Stephen, without doing it any damage. . 
' On the twetsty-third of June 1329, another of those catastrophes 
occurred, of which Nicholas Specioli has recorded some particulars. 
About the hour of vespers, ^tna was agitated by commotions, accom- 
panied with terrific sounds, so much so that the utmost alarm spread 
throughout the whole island of Sicily. A blaze of fire, enveloped in 
smoke, suddenly issuing from the southern summit, spread snow over 
the rocks of Mozona. As the evening advanced, the flames seemed 
to touch the clouds, spreading themselves with furious impetuosity, 
and reducing every building to ruins that obstructed their course ; 
many rocks on the shore of Mascoli were dashed into the" sea, and 
springs and streams of water were annihilated. On the southern side 
of, the church of St. John, called II Paparinceca, fire issued with 
great violence from an opening or fissure made in the ground ; the 
sun was eclipsed from morning to evening with clouds of smoke and 
ashe^. Our historian, on approaching the newly opened crater, per- 
ceived the earth totter under his feet, and saw red-hot stones issue 
successively in a very short space, with a thundering noise. 
A few days were sufficient to convert the neighbourhood into a 
scene of desolation. From show'ers of fire, ashes, and stones, which 
continued to descend, every species of animals, with multitudes of 
the feathered creation, perished in great numbers; the fishes also died 
in the rivers and the adjacent sea. It is even stated, that many 
persons died of fear, at which no one will be much astonished who 
reads the terrible account of Nicholas Specidi. He declares, that 
neither Babylon nor Sodom suffered so tremendous a visitation. The 
north winds, which blew at the time, carried the ashes as far as 
Malta. Successive calamities followed each othertill the fifteenth of July. 
In 1333, only four years afterwards, another eruption took place, 
which poured forth large volleys of stones. 
On the tw'enty-fifth of August 1381, the territory of Catania was 
again desolated, the olive yards in the neighbourhood of the city 
heiug burnt up by another iFtnean visitation. 
Sixty-three years afterwards, a similar torrent of destruction issued 
forth, and ran towards Catania; the shocks were so violent, that huge 
masses of rock were torn from its summit, and hurled into the abyss 
below, and for eighteen months the mountain w'as almost incessantly 
agitated. 
On the twenty-fifth of September, 1446, an hour after sun-set, sn 
eruption issued from the place called La Pietra di Mazani, w hich, 
hpw'ever, was of short continuance. 
In September the following year, another occurred, which was 
likewise of short duration, but accompanied with a considerable con- 
flagration. 
At pen of nearly a century elapsed, during which no explosion 
taking place, the inhabitants of the vicinity began to think themselves 
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