Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

24 articles on this Page

MOUNT ETNA IN ERUPTION. !

News
Cite
Share

MOUNT ETNA IN ERUPTION. Are threatened with a repetition I from uJlh!ch thei* w«d Km b««n subjected at Q« tj^t ihi immiemoral. Telegrams from Messina ilotl!?** » •r?P«°n 1* assuming vast proportion*, •aXS1,1 Aery rivZ? ,S.ew5,Is Ponrtn8 down the mountain toX??*^tta »I»Il pending to a considerable distance, "elds °' Tillages, and doing mnoh damage 8lve, chestnut wood*The Timet ol *• volcan^ /P8 leader on the past history of the folu?^5 ? Present eruption, from which «< Af. O,0«owlng extracts :— ^olcano o! ,°f fifteen years the historic Pj°ti°n> 'y 18 again in a state of violent com- KT0^ Mhe* v» cra*er itself a great cloud of r'^taia n, P°ured forth, rendering the at a dinfoJ! °hsonring the raya of the soft carrie,j » °C0 °f "^any miles. These a»heb have go far ™de, and have ev% Covered the Thren nl M ^ggl0,' 0,1 fcdjaoent coast of and »vf Randazzo n„°fK ?y* in the direo- Jvl 8 lava L» _J 0 side of the mountain, t^cavillk rapidly towards the town of alarm is felt, though that *he y%. -*Wd beyond the river Alcantara, and j? °* region usually threatened .v1 opposite side of the mountain, i^odia _~e adjacent village of Santa Maria di "ream 5|p?rted to be greatly alarmed. rj^res ia ^iPA »ava, which is estimated to be 70 ll betweenw* 18 ^owinK in ft direction some- J? «AVE »*O„V ?ancavilla and Kandaszo, and seems Si fountain J high road which enoiroles ▼UUgeg T Jno_and connects the latter town with the are en»ki^ J5*. an<* These vil- darkne-?0"6^ in a canopy of ashes, and almost t> °,?0Ihitanb« <Rreva^a in them. None of the ordinary I **« of$»- 1 a great eruption seem to be absent, the air'f are taken for such, are hurled reachwl n,e* craters and fissures, and, Renort. height, they bnrst with a loud U rolling of artillery are heard 1.7* flows s'tnaiik'-i11^ fcn<i day alike the stream of aecQ^nff -^y and irresistibly on until by the Mngt»agln».B reached to within a few miles of a nanrn dawn of historic time Etna has Sr^iteiTjn^ terror to the nations dwelling on tbe MonolkJi" '^ie mountain is now called in eLil^TT8 strange compound of Latin and .j**6' wldch identical in meaning—but its ancient ■tj £ bifie8 • ffeographers still retain, very probably Jiving. v fire. Unlike its neighbour 2?**fl«5eace «, never entirely lapsed into wi'thn«?U8.? several centuries have often ration, ™ occurrence of any serious Ijr^ty. J oontbued, though intermittent in anr.I° which it has always in- 'act that 411 timee, we may attribute terriblv H though they have sometimes m t",IbIY de--tr-"U, have never been marked by Er* and H^i catastrophe as that in which Pom- Were overwhelmed just eighteen forgottn'n J^^y^uvius first recovered its dormant °ccnt){«ri k_ It is true that the enormous of t[,e > Etna and its slopes, with the excep- e*>tern «te Val del Bove, a vast chasm on the mountain, capacious enough to At its i B?aBB °* Vesuvius, is densely popu- exj t levels, but the towns and villages •SS1* Precarfrw^0* BPrtlnK up in full consciousness of T>th*' t0 tenure, and have never pretended to J u™ry or to the careless security of Mutant cj» neighbours, Catania, the nearest im- the mountain, has more than once been ^Sctg o» 88 suffered severely in past times from "*cta Of lornedf the greater eruptions. Thus Etna, 2i *ys b«»« of comparative quiescence, has for i. terror to the people who dwell on its v?** the never been wholly inactive, a Stan If1 desolation of the Val del Bove has to 5^Tdid«« !1? warning of its destructive power. n '» wbtn an eruption in the year 426 h*taaU ? stream of lava ravaged the environs of *5*t this, he says, was the third eruption w *h« Gwuki^^SS^ Sicily was first colonized J?*1" bftStt?" of these took place fifty §*kes *nd is the one to which Pindar *tiero 0f p?nce in his ode celebrating the victory of ?*d Rom.n .r ancient writers, both Greek 1,1 »ud ibl naa*e. frequent reference to the moun- S^ive iff eraPtions, while in modern times an J^Vject. has been devoted to the same P^Wfifol w, in fact, the grandest and most '°h nti -iu °' the great line of volcanic action P*rtg of tK vr alOI,8 the southern and eastern spreading northwards -Jv^^vina through the Lipari Islands to Iechia, "°hte A'IK the Solfaterra, and even as far as the jjards n»«»^southwards to Pantellaria, and east- 2*o«Rh tk t e^°P°nuese to the ^Egean and thence i *t»nt ~S,vant to Cyprus, Syria, and the more ttifnih throughout this whole region are found •OQie conn active and extinct volcanoes. nno,V8ly a°tive like Stromboli and the island '••UviuJ C^-c>^ Volcano, some intermittent like ial^f^ Etna, some partially subaqueous, like hTv0A_s??torin- which for more than 2,000 vicisgj^? heen the scene of the strangest volcanic w^e many more are extinct, and to all exhausted. Traces of volcanic action have discer*? 'n v»riouB parts of Syria, and some have reco!rfd in the narrative of the Exodus an early fogiafl v°lcanic phenomena and their overpower- over the minds of men. „ *nav h vetT difficult at present to conjecture what on ultimate extent of the eruption now going Teiity"e'6kt eruptions of Etna have been re- ° sever«,anj °* these, though several have been both P have h(JS .^onK-continned, the large majority 11 Xweatv!.«« a imperatively harmless character. *n«noed i«ei«.i?re*lB ago« 1852 an eruption com- tl that a nartJ t n^ntw August so suddenly the mountom aid >.8 ^hn?en' who were climbin8 11 °t the fi«*i cona almost reached the foot 81 their escape, and it continnl^™ difficni1lty in making 8 nine mouths. Earlv in i7Kc re or leBa actively for a which was accomoLied eroP«°u occurred « Jaenon of an overwhelming re™arkable pheno- W theu^aUy arfd a^dL»-v 7$*T flowing stream formed a channel V.al del ^ove. This c PUces 34 feet deeD and iT°fl 6 j ad and in some ^inamfnnt« W«,flowfd at rate of a t °J course Thn« »K 0 firat twelve miles t ^ared the water this eraPtion i Posed to nr.™ 8 1 c°urse it was sup- ? «*ect fmm I?6 ,n some mysterious fashion } x sea, especially as its volume 1 ^ter? S?,ied to that of all the s *traage nv,- accumulated on the mountain. This « J>y the r,rrwlS0m-enon is now satisfactorily explained j accn»« existence of vast reservoirs of snow and beaeatv in different parts of the mountain *i*lns superincumbent lava. The heat of the Was °? lava melted the ice, and the salt taste the mc>M- ,?mcated by the vaporous exhalations. But P^ace in 1^rQ°tive eruption of modern times took length i J A fissure nearly twelve miles in lit feet Wide unknown depth, but not more than th« mount! on the north-eastern side of UQq si1 mouths, or craters, opened in smotA 8 fissure, pouring forth vast volumes Which acc°mpanied by a low bellowing, "•Wcr^Sw, forty miles away. Besides this "to^Uitain (We.re formed in various other parts of the **ow oaii.J -finding the well-known double cone, 2 miu. • on'.i ^ossi, which is nearly 500 feet high of circumference at its base. Daring the *hd th« eruption violent earthquakes occurred, •haken the great central crater was time rf *n ^to the crater itself for the fifth great Sf06 tte commencement of our aera. The I of lava caused by this eruption a lmfr itself into three streams which destroyed Cattof .mber of villages, and ultimately reached tojr* lt8elf. Two mues from the city it is said Undermined a tract of land and to have £ a vineyard, with its vines all standing, to a "able distance. The vivacious traveller he gj°ne> who visited Sicily in 1770, declares that ti0^ a portion of this vineyard still under cultiva- agyLArrived at Catania the stream piled itself up |(j^*t, the walls, 60 feet high, which the wise *ffafo*t °* an generation had provided *0^8 ravages. The wall withstood the enor- tw re, but the stream finally reached its tive pT* and poured into the city in a destruc- «e& rfpade of fire. At last the lava reached the ao<j 4o fi. in a stream 600 yards broad and a great conflict of the elements of flyin* Inpanted with clouds of steam and masses deetrov* It is said that this great eruption only kVT! Property of over 30,000 people. We can *_at Sicily is not about to suffer another opening n« P^e. The whirlwind, the fissures, the derJS?r craters, the rumbling noises, the wide- P^Urous v*8 ashes, the clouds of steam and BUI- ^akes anrUvlr' lightnings, the thunders, the earth- are aU phenomena more or less Jhey are ti,a7,^rpPtioPB. whether mild or destructive. •Hues are enough to thote whose life and for- fountain £ • Itake, and there is no doubt that the a. I may 111 a "tate of very violent activity. But that of na and consoling hope from the • ?°st have Bcores of recorded eruptions of Etna **W have .comparatively harmless, and only a n widely destructive."

[No title]

RUSSIAN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

A LETTER FROM MR. LONGFELLOW.

A TEMPERANCE DEMONSTRATION.

EARTHOUAKES. '

THE ATTACK UPON MOIROSI'S…

[No title]

THE CITY OF PEKING.

A LOBSTER'S BLOOD. ;

PROTECTION AND THE FARMERS…

THE LATE FAMINE IN CHINA.

TBE FARMERS' ALLIANCE.

[No title]

THE BALLOON EXPEDITION TO…

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

A "JOURNEY TO THE TOMBS."

THE VISIT OF AMERICAN TROOPS…

A NEW YORK 11 KITCHEN-GARTEN."…

TIDY ANTS.

NEW MEXICO.

THE SINKING OF THE AVA.

THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE.