THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
221 
of the eruption. The sight presented by these 
moving rivers of molten rock was most fantastic. 
Onward they moved down the mountain sides 
with irresistible force, now meandering through 
small valleys, and now precitating themselves as 
cataracts of fire into lofty and precipitous gorges. 
Oftentimes they met with impediments which 
arrested their progress: but it was not for long. On- 
ward poured the molten rock and slowly the stream 
built itself up into a towering mound until suf- 
ficient had been accumulated to overcome the 
obstruction, when onward it went again with 
redoubled violence and rapidity. 
In the meantime the craters continued to belch 
forth long tongues of flame into the blackness of 
night, and to eject showers of white hot scoriae 
and bombs, the heat, glare, and noise of explosion 
of which, seemed to represent the very embodi- 
ment of what one’s idea of a colossal pandemo- 
nium would be. 
In the vicinity of Crifeo the effect of these 
repeated explosions was terrific. At very shock 
the earth trembled like an aspen and the deafen- 
ing rumbling sounds with which each throb was 
accompanied afforded undeniable evidence of the 
awful extent of the fiery, unfathomable abyss that 
lay within the mountain. 
From the doomed towns of Belpasso and Ni- 
colosi the scene was the most awful and weird in 
the extreme, and darkness so far from taking 
from, really added a new effect and sublimity to it. 
J. H. Cooke. 
The Sponges of Tripoli. 
The last report of the British Consul-General at 
Tripoli contains many interesting details bearing 
on the Sponge industry of this state. The sponge- 
fisheries are in the hands of Greeks and are 
carried on by means of numerous small craft, 
employing about 700 men amongst them The 
fishing takes place in the summer months only, 
and by four different methods — viz., machine boats 
or those which are provided with diving apparatus, 
Kangara boats or trawlers, harpoon boats, and 
divers’ boats. Last summer there were 21 diving 
machines in use, which naturally secure the best 
sponges, as the divers have time to select and cut 
the sponges, whereas the trawl nets and ordinary 
divers tear them away from the bottom without 
examining them, and the harpoon boats can only 
fish in comparatively shallow water. These sponges, 
after being dried, are sent mostly to Greece, but 
there are a few buyers on the spot who send some 
to the London and Paris markets. The best 
sponges are found in the west of Tripoli, the 
quality becoming inferior towards the east. The 
diving is dangerous owing to the presence of 
sharks and to accidents such as remaining under 
water too long, or diving beyond the proper limits, 
which often exhausts the divers and proves fatal 
to them. The cost of licenses for fishing varies 
from £T3 to £T32, according to the mode by 
which it is carried on. 
On the Meadow of Nysa in Asia Minor. 
BY 
Capt. R. Mooke, R.N. 
II. 
A Zeybec in full costume is a most picturesque 
subject for the sketchbook. He appears to be 
composed, or built up, of six equal or nearly equal 
parts. The basement of the structure is his leg- 
gings of dark blue cloth, braided with black, and 
fastened below the knee with'a red tasselled cord. 
Above this is a long stretch of bare, bronzed, and 
brawny thigh, indicative of the great muscular 
power and agility of these Turkish Highlanders, 
and extending upwards till it meets his short 
loose breeches of blue cloth, bound round his waist 
a cord, reaching tho least possible distance down- 
wards, puckered up on the thighs like bags, and 
projecting in the rear with a strange fulness, sug- 
gestive of the presence of the caudal appendage 
which is supposed to have adorned man before, in 
the process of evolution, he had entirely emerged 
from the pithecose state. His breeches are deci- 
dedly the shallowest of all the layers of which the 
Zeybec costume is composed. The fourth storey 
is a deep stratum of checked or variegated silk, 
covering a broad leathern belt which serves him 
for pocket and armoury. In it he stores his pon- 
derous pistols inlaid with silver, his ramrod also, 
unless be is fortunate enough to possess a revolver^ 
his writing-case, his cartouche-belt, heavy with 
