Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-07-03

Many fresh fAsures have appeared on
Mt. Etna, and tbs whole adjacent re-
glon is in q state of fdismay. Recent
reports from Cantania are to the effect
that the food f.lava is very extensive.
II is said to be streaming toward the
river Alcantars, and 10 have devastated
the village of Mic. II is possible, says
the New York Post, that the eruption
may cease at any moment; but on the
other hand il may last for months or
even years. The duration and extent
Of volcanic phenomena are absolutely in
calcuIable. All that experience teaches
is that when a volcano has been DOR
mant for long time, its eruption, when
IL comes at last, is likely to be fierce
one. But it may be short as well as
fierce, like the memorable outbreak OF
Vesuvius that changed the face of the
Campagna and swallowed up Stabie.
Herculaneum and Pompeii; or il may
be protracted like the eruption of Jurul-
10, in the Mexican province ofFallado-
lid or Mechuacan, that lasted from June,
1850, until February, 1760.
Humboldt describes this famous erup-
tisA. &C Jasallesas haRias 6esn c6ailna,
Gus between the dates we have named.
But its progress was attended by some
ebullilions of extraordinary fury. On
the night Of the 2Sth-29th of Septem-
Der, 1850, a scene was presented which
for terrific magnifcence has perhaps
not been surpassed in the history of the
world. 1t was witnessed from the
neighboring mountains Of Aguazanco,
and Humboldt got his account IRON
those who were on the spot. He says
that the flames spouted up over an area
nearly league square. The waters OF
two rivers, the San Pedro and the Cui-
timba, plunged into gaping rents that
were torn through the earth and actu-
ally disappeared. Thousands of small
volcanoes burst forth over a wide tract
of country and vomited smoke and sui
phurous flames. Six large cones also
sprang up, riyalling the original crater,
and yielded torrents of FIRE, lava and
basalt. -
Whirlwinds packed with eolored ashes
flew over hundreds Of square miles.
The earth rocked and the air was filed
with overwhelming thunders. The
simple Indians, who, not unnaturally,
thought the end of the world was at
hand, fled in mad terror and confusion.
II was long before the survivors ven-
tured back into the region once filed
with smiling and prolific "haciendas, "
but now a black and desolaled waste.
Those who returned looked for the once
familiar rivers that had watered and
enriched the surrounding plain; they
had vanished and were seen no more.
But wandering natives profess to this
day to hear the ravished streams creep
ing, like Ilyssus in lingering laby-
rinths, far below the surface of the in-
gulfng earth.
The craters ot.Vesuvius b. C. 73 had
slept for time immemoriaI. The gIadi-
ators who fed from the Roman prator
and hid IN the assures . tha xaleanu
had no fear Of nature, whatever thew
might have Of man. When they burs.
from their lair TO release their leader,
Spartacus, and to overthrow for space
the cruel Roman power, the outburst oi
the lava whose track they followed had
become mere tradition. Even on that
memorable day, before the kalends oil
September, when the two Pli1ys, the
elder who perished and the younger
who recorded. first saw the cloud over
VesuYius they deemed il q curiosity
only. Probably when the worthy ad-
miral gos the letter, further on IN the
day, praying for help. from Rectine, the
wife of Cesius Bassius, whose house
was at the foot OF Vesuvius, he thought
her womanish fears uncalled Tor. How
were people to believe in acatastrophe
OF nature that had scarcely even been
heard of. But the sad tragedy Of Sta
biz followed, when Pliny 10 nobly striv-
ing to save others lost himself.
Eruptions like that OF Vesuvius, CON-
ing at such intervals that the bFoadened
space Is scarcely bridged by authentic
history, are naturally the most APPALLING.
A volcano Ike HecIa, on the other hand,
which, between 1904 and .1766 unb0r-
thened itself twenty-three times, does
not al any rate take the world by sur
prise. The terrors Of Heela, indeed,
sink into insignihcance when compared
with those OF its awful neighbor, the
SkaP;s Jokul. Iceland has been very