28 
Hobbs.—Notes on a Trip to the Lipari Islands. 
On the 3rd of August an outburst took place in the crater, of sufficient 
force to throw projectiles out to the sides, whence they rolled down the 
slope. This lasted ten to fifteen minutes and was repeated at intervals 
of twenty or thirty minutes. With the throwing out of the projectiles 
t here would be a great rush of thick smoke (mainly steam and dust) 
Such eruptions had been observed several times before within the thir¬ 
teen years Mr. Narlian had been on the island, and he was led to hope 
that these would end like former eruptions. Toward evening the lead¬ 
ing fumarole (the secondary crater on the north lip of the main crater), 
which had given off offensive gases for some months, showed a clear, 
high flame tinged with green or blue. Mr. Narlian was so alarmed that 
he did not undress for the night. Towards morning he fell asleep, but 
was soon awakened by a tremendous din caused by the fall of projectiles 
on the roof of his villa. Securing his children, he ran to the drawing 
room, but as the door was opened a red-hot mass of pumice, two feet in 
diameter fell through the roof, ceiling and floor, smashing and setting 
fire to everything. Turning back, they reached the verandah by another 
passage, when a second red-hot block, similar to the first, fell at their 
feet, was smashed to fragments and burned the feet and legs of the two 
boys. Mr. Narlian, helping his children as best he could, ran away from 
the thundering mountain toward Vulcanello. The men, in their despair 
had carried off the two available boats, leaving him without any means 
of escape. He was obliged to remain on Vulcanello, almost within reach 
of the falling blocks, until taken off about noon by boats from Lipari. 
The violence of the eruption diminished somewhat in intensity, but to 
the end of the month the noise continued to be heard in Lipari (at a 
distance of six miles) as a prolonged thunder. Almost the same condi¬ 
tion of affairs continued through the year, the quantity of projectiles 
diminishing somewhat and being replaced by fine ash, which mounted 
as a black cloud to a height of three miles or more before floating off. 
When I visited the volcano on April 9th of the year following, this 
was the condition of affairs, with the intensity of the outbursts some¬ 
what further diminished. We engaged four swarthy boatmen and their 
boat for the entire day for twelve lires ($2.40). These men, who rowed 
standing, were dressed in bright colored shirts and trousers rolled 
nearly to their hips. Their sandals they carried in their pockets while 
in the boat. Enormous brass rings were stuck in their ears. We 
carried provisions and wine, as nothing to eat or drink could be ob¬ 
tained on the island. The morning was clear but the sea was quite 
choppy. I had never seen water of such a beautiful tint. The oars as 
they dipped in the water showed a beautiful turquois blue. We landed 
at the Porto di Levante, the boatmen carrying us through the surf on 
their shoulders. We visited Vulcanello and photographed the explo¬ 
sions from that point. One of these photographs has been engraved, and 
