FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   >>  
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
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   >>  



Top keywords:

crater

 

opened

 

stream

 
masses
 

scoriae

 
Nicolosi
 

mountain

 
Bronte
 

fortunately

 

summit


standstill

 

violent

 

commenced

 

suddenly

 
flames
 
hurricane
 
defile
 

overthrew

 

narrow

 

ascending


August
 

months

 

eruption

 
lasted
 

witnessed

 

sunrise

 

approached

 

Inglesi

 
English
 
tourists

terror
 

thrown

 
seventeen
 

Grande

 
Giannicola
 

Trifoglietto

 

fissure

 

showers

 

ejected

 

branching


advanced

 

flowed

 

During

 

quantity

 

called

 

earthquake

 

beneath

 
precipices
 

sheltered

 

bocche