hrown away by the Commissioners since the
inception of the undertaking, in April, 1849.

The first symptoms of alarm were felt on the evening of November
1. The men complained of a vast increase of heat, and the cages
had to be dropped every five minutes for the greater part of the
night; and of those who attempted to work, at least one half were
extricated in a condition of fainting, but one degree from
cyncope. Toward morning, hoarse, profound and frequent
subterranean explosions were heard, which had increased at noon
to one dull, threatening and continuous roar. But the miners went
down bravely to their tasks, and resolved to work as long as
human endurance could bear it. But this was not to be much
longer; for late at night, on the 4th, after hearing a terrible
explosion, which shook the whole neighborhood, a hot sirocco
issued from the bottom, which drove them all out in a state of
asphyxia. The heat at the surface became absolutely unendurable,
and on sending down a cage with only a dog in it, the materials
of which it was composed took fire, and the animal perished in
the flames. At 3 o'clock A. M. the iron fastenings to another
cage were found fused, and the wire ropes were melted for more
than 1000 feet at the other end. The detonations became more
frequent, the trembling of the earth at the surface more violent,
and the heat more oppressive around the mouth of the orifice. A
few minutes before 4 o'clock a subterranean crash was heard,
louder than Alpine thunder, and immediately afterward a furious
cloud of ashes, smoke and gaseous exhalation shot high up into
the still darkened atmosphere of night. At this time at least one
thousand of the terrified and half-naked inhabitants of the
neighboring village of Dudzeele had collected on the spot, and
with wringing hands and fearful outcries bewailed their fate, and
threatened instant death to the officers of the commission, and
even to the now terrified miners. Finally, just before dawn, on
the 5th of November, or, to be more precise, at exactly twenty
minutes past 6 A. M., molten lava made its appearance at the
surface!

The fright now became general, and as the burning buildings shed
their ominous glare around, and the languid stream of liquid fire
slowly bubbled up and rolled toward the canal, the scene assumed
an aspect of awful sublimity and gra