e, in a stream 600 feet wide, and it came to a standstill ten miles
from the summit.

75. Near the end of the following year, fifteen mouths of fire opened
near the crater of 1832, at a height of 7000 feet above the sea. They
began by discharging scoriae and sand, and afterwards lava, which divided
into three streams, the two outer ones soon came to a standstill, while
the central stream continued to flow at the rapid rate of 180 feet a
minute, the descent being an angle of 25 deg.. The heat at a distance of 120
feet from the current was 90 deg. F. A new crater opened just above Bronte,
and discharged lava which threatened the town, but it fortunately
encountered Monte Vittoria and was diverted into another course. While a
number of the inhabitants of Bronte were watching the progress of the
lava, the front of the stream was suddenly blown out as by an explosion
of gunpowder; in an instant red-hot masses were hurled in every
direction; and a cloud of vapour enveloped everything. Thirty-six
persons were killed on the spot, and twenty survived but a few hours.
The great crater showed signs of disturbance, by emitting dense volumes
of smoke, and loud bellowings, also quantities of volcanic dust
saturated with hydrochloric acid, which destroyed the vegetation
wherever it fell.

76. A very violent eruption which lasted more than nine months,
commenced on the 21st of August, 1852. It was first witnessed by a party
of six English tourists, who were ascending the mountain from Nicolosi
in order to see the sunrise from the summit. As they approached the Casa
Inglesi the crater commenced to give forth ashes and flames of fire. In
a narrow defile they were met by a violent hurricane, which overthrew
both the mules and their riders, and urged them towards the precipices
of the Val del Bove. They sheltered themselves beneath some masses of
lava, when suddenly an earthquake shook the mountain, and their mules in
terror fled away. They returned on foot towards daylight to Nicolosi,
fortunately without having sustained injury. In the course of the night
many _bocche del fuoco_ opened in that part of the Val del Bove called
the Balzo di Trifoglietto, and a great fissure opened at the base of the
Giannicola Grande, and a crater was thrown up from which for seventeen
days showers of sand and scoriae were ejected. During the next day a
quantity of lava flowed down the Val del Bove, branching off so that one
stream advanced to the foot of