, 1886-07-20
The ERUPTION OF gTNA.
Extract from a Private Letter Wilton by
Bold sight-Seer.

ton of Etna which is going on. I left
Palermo Saturday, and came here to see
it. We left here about 3 o'clock (six of
us, English) Saturday afternoon, and
drove to Nicolosi, which we reached
about 8 o'clock, and got mules and went
up to the scene. There were crowds of
people going there, but we tool a differ
erent road and went up much higher
than the general crowd. We had a
guide with us. and after about three
hours climbing we got to within a couple
of miles of the crater itself. 1t is at the
side of Etna, you know, not near the top,
hat this eruption has broken out, and
we got on to a bit of high ground over
looking the whole scene. 1t was still
daylight when we got up there, SO that
we saw the whole thing by daylight. We
then settled ourselves down to dinner,
which we had brought with us from
Catania, and of course it was soon dark,
and here we were comfortably feeding
before the most glorious and indescriba-
! Bile sight i ever saw in my life.
1t is perfectly impossible to describe it.
as no one can nave any conception of
what it is like until they saw it, and also
until they see it from where we did,
which was on high ground overlooking
nearly the whole Of it. At the top is
this enormous crater throwing out flames
and throwing up stones hundreds of
yards, with a continual roar like lany
number of battles going on, and just be-
low is another mouth from which the
ava comes, travelling at n tremendous
pace. 1t divides into several streams
and follows the valleys. Now imagine
from where we were that night, with
our backs to Catania, what we saw. On
the right this enormous flame going;
hundreds of feet into the air, making the
whole sky bright red, and all down past
us from our right and extending down
miles to the left streams of red-hot lava
moving downward in a mass for miles,
and looking like an enormous sea of red
hot coke. The width across the lava
where we were was, perhaps, three or
fou miles, and it started about two miles
above Us and flowed some four miles or
so below us, so you must imagine a sea
Of angry, red-hot lava five or six miles
long and three or four wide and about
thirty or forty feet deep, but all of it
bright red. You can judge whether it
was a sight worth seeing. l would not
have missed it for worlds.
The lava is not liquid, as many people
suppose, but consists of many millions of
large and small blocks of rocky-looking
stuff rolling onward. We saw one huge
rock of old lava standing in the middle
Of the stream of lava, which was divided
by it and ran around it; the rock was
about the size of, say, Quidenham church,
and this rock suddenly split into two
parts, the smaller half crumbled up, and
the other half was carried bodily down
with the stream slowly and steadily. We
watched i. uTtli we left, aad it moved
about three-quarters of a mile in about
three quarters of an hour. We waited
there until nearly midnight, as we could
not venture down until the moon got up,
and then we reluctantly left this magnif-
cent sight, which, as l tell you, no de-
scription can give you any idea of. AS
we went up we had all gone into a little
house to see it, and walked round it, and
thought it was unpleasantly close to the
lava. Well, as we came down this house
was in flames and caught by the stream.
In many places we had to take different
paths, so quickly had the lava spread as
it came down, and from below it is awful
quite close to it) to see this mass thirty
or forty feet high coming slowly toward
you.
brought a piece of red-hot lava down
with me, which the guide got hold of
for me, as l could not get it myself; it
was so fearfully hot ] could not go close
enough. We put wire round II at K
carried it down on the end of my stick.
In fact, Yesach brought a bit down. and
also some ashes or cinders which rained
down ON us whenever the wind was our
way. We got back to Cantania at about
4;l5 a. IN. We were up near the crater
nearly four hours. Wesaw other people
go W to see the lower end of the lava,
stay there a few minutes and go down
again; but the way to do it is to go right
high up, arriving by daylight, and then
stay there to see it by night and watch
the changes going on. 1t was glorious.
-Cantania Cor. London Times.