The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-10
RIVERS OF DESTRUCTION!
The Lava from Active Etna Flows Slowly
but Surely.
ROME, June


but Surely.
ROME, June I.
The full accounts of the destruction
caused by the terrible eruption of Mount
Etna are heartrending. Catania was one
of the provinces of Italy where there was
q promise Of good harvest, but now the
green fields and vineyards are buried
under heavy weight of hard, gray lava.
The possessions Of the Sicilians living on
the sides or at the foot of the mountains
are destroyed, and many proprietor who,
in May was rich, in June is as poor ss
the humblest of his servants. The story,
only one Of many, is told OF a proprietor,
the father of nine children, who yester-
day saw everything he possessed, houses,
barns, cabins, olive trees, corn and wheat
fields and vineyards, all destroyed. The
inhabitants of the towns and country
houses near the course of the lava are
discouraged at the extent of their mis-
fortunes. They remove all the house
hold goods that can be transported, the
cattle, the wine in the cellars, and even
the tiles on the roofs of the houses. The
roads near the advancing lava are like a
battlefield. Wagons laden with goods,
herds of cattle, crowds of weeping women
and children fleeing from their homes.
Innumerable strangers from every nation,
on the contrary, 60 forward on the road
and advance so near the lava that the
guards arc obliged to send them back.
Although they can advance so near as to
light cigar at the stream of lava it is
dangerous. as the lava, which at one mo-
ment looks dark and dull, is liable at the
next to burst open by its own weight and
make a new path for itself where it is
not expected. Regiments of soldiers are
stationed all along the roads to keep
order, and lines of them guard the edges
of the stream. A correspondent from
Randazzo describes how the inhabitants
of that town and of Linguagrossa stood
on the national road watching the lava
slowly advance, and as it began to cover
the road they sadly shook hands and said
farewell when the fiery stream separated
them. There was cry of despair from
the people at this point when the bridge
of Piciara was burned, and the lava fell
from q little height into lovely vineyards
and filled them up.
The mountain has been disturbed for
five months. On the 22d of May the
crater threw out with great noise vast
quantity of dense salt and smoking mud.
This made an intermitting fountain rising
sometimes twenty-four feet above the
level of the soil. Occasionally great
balls of mud filled with gas grew larger
and larger until they burst. The river
of mud constantly fed from the crater
descended the sides of the mountain, and
for distance of four miles filled up the
canals used for irrigation. The fright
ened country people, unconscious of the
worse ills that were coming upon them,
sought to defend their fields from the
entrance of the enemy by building walls
of stones. On the afternoon of the. 26th
of May the eruption began, which is said
to be the most violent of this century.
The people were startled by repeated
shocks of earthquake, loud thunder, high
wind and q heavy rain. Two new era
tiers were then seen on the northwest
part of the mountain, which vomited
lava, smoke and fine ashes. The next
day three columns of smoke were seen
on the back of the mountain, and the
lava began to descend. The movement
of this incandescent stream was at first
rapid, but as it increased in size and
spread out over the lower part of tho
mountain and the plains it became
slower. Its advance now is estimated at
iorty-fve feet an hour, and the width of
the three streams into which it is divided
are variously estimated. That which
threatens the town of Moio, with two
hundred inhabitants, and the river AL
cantara is said to be fifteen hundred feet
wide, and this width continually increas-
es on account of the heigh of the stream.
If the river Alcantara, which is one of
the principal streams Of Sicily, and sup
plies several large towns, gardens, and
mills with water, is filled up the calamity
will be incalculable. The lava is already
within a few hundred feet of the shore.
and slowly advancing; but it is hoped
that it may turn and run along the bank,
or not have strength to reach the water,
the violence of the eruption having di-
minished. One of the streams of lava
has travelled distance of thirteen miles
from the crater; it is estimated that in
less than four days more than two hun
dred and thirty million cubic yards of
lava have been thrown out.
The spectacle of this tremendous con-
vulsion of nature is wonderfully and
fearfully beautiful. 1t is especially i'm
pressive at night, when the fiery current
often throws up in its progress great
masses of molten stone. The column of
smoke and fine black sand which follows
the lava reflects the red tint of the fire,
and looks like an aurora borealis. From
the craters on the top Of the mountain
rise dense columns of smoke, now very
white and again densely black, and often
pierced by sharp streaks of electricity.
The travellers who have flocked thither
view these wonders with ecstacy, but the
,, poor and the rich man reduced to begga-
nv weep over the ruin of their homes.
In the daytime the cloud of smoke and
sand is so dense that the sun is invisible,
and the day seems to be almost like the
night. Spectacles and umbrellas are ne
cessary projections for whoever walks
out in the neighborhood Of the noun
tain, for the fine sand covers everything
with heavy coating, and blows into the
, eyes. The eruption is accompanied by
constant rumbling noises like the boom
! ing of artillery; the earth trembles, the
! sky is leaden. The mass of lava is from
! fifteen to thirty feet high, and, according
to its height or the time of day, varies
; in color from bright, fiery red toa dull
leaden shade. If it was not for the jets
of smoke which issue now and then from
: this mass it might be thought dead lava
: of half century ago, but when it
/ moves its waves slide over each other