Seven mouths of fire opened around the new crater, and
in three days united with it, forming one large crater 800 feet in
diameter. All this time the torrent of lava continued to descend, it
destroying the town of Mascalucia on the 23d of March. On the same day
the crater cast up great quantities of sand, ashes and scoriae, and
formed above itself the great double-coned hill now called Monte Rossi,
from the red color of the ashes of which it is mainly composed.
VILLAGES AND CITIES BURIED
On the 25th very violent earthquakes occurred, and the cone above the
great central crater was shaken down into the crater for the fifth time
since the first century A. D. The original current of lava divided
into three streams, one of which destroyed San Pietro, the second
Camporotondo, and the third the lands about Mascalucia and afterward the
village of Misterbianco. Fourteen villages were altogether destroyed,
and the lava flowed toward Catania. At Albanelli, two miles from the
city, it undermined a hill covered with cornfields and carried it
forward a considerable distance. A vineyard was also seen to be floating
on its fiery surface. When the lava reached the walls of Catania, it
accumulated without progression until it rose to the top of the wall, 60
feet in height, and it then fell over in a fiery cascade and overwhelmed
a part of the city. Another portion of the same stream threw down 120
feet of the wall and flowed into the city.
On the 23d of April the lava reached the sea, which it entered as a
stream 600 yards broad and 40 feet deep.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312