The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1886-07-04
Tho HruptIeu or Et,..

The inclosed extract is from private letter from
iss engineer y charge q as
h xoa have probably heard Of the eruption oi Eina
came mere to zee it. We ieft nere sboat csIacs ace
!six Of rs, EngliaD Saturday afternoon, ana drove
20 so NcoIosi W which We reached about O'Clock, and
crowds GRO o. people eolna there, but We took differ
ent road ana went up much higher than the general
miles Of the crater Itself II Is al % the aide s Of Etns a.
and ws ro sne oa op nat ~ hs " has
overlooking the whole scene. It was sill dsylirht
,ns9 we ss Et W there 20 ns, We the whole
EDalnner, which We had brought with us from
Ssatania, ss!s and OF course y was soon dark, and
the most glorious and indescribabie slight
ever saW 70 my liie. It 70 perfectly impossible
70 as - T. e. 70 one can have any Of
zoe y from where We did, which was on high ground
overlooking nearly the whole OF 1t. At the top is
throwing up stones some hundreds OF yards, with q
continued roar like any numSer OF hatiies going on
sna ADJ jus, below ~ another mouth from which the
lava comes, travelling At tremendous pace II d.
yides Into several streams aud follows the valleys
NOW Imagine from where we were that night, with
this enormous name going hundreds OF feet into me
air. making the whole sky bright red, AMI ali down
s s sirsa@S oi fe lot lava ovlaa ss sowmwar "wn a.
70 mass for miles, and looking Ike an enormous sea
W Tou-hot cok6. lh6 Wldth ACROSS the lava where
we were was, perhaps, three or four miles, and Il
started about two mIIes above us and flowed some
Iour miles or 10 below US, 10 yOn must Imagine sea
Of angry, red-h0t lava 1--WE or six miles long, ani
three or four wlde and about thirty or forty deep
nut All of bright red. f0n can Judge whether
y was sight worth seeing l would not have
Inost people suppose, hut conslsis OF many millions
of large aud small blocks OF rock looking siuii roll
Ink onwarda. we saw one huge rock of old lava
standing y the middle OF the stream Of lava which
WAS uviuen ny u aud ran around II; the rock waH
sbont the sixe of laay) Quidenham Church. and this
crumbed mp AMI the other half was carried bodily
down with the stream slowly and steadily. We
watched II until We left and II moved about three
quarters of mile In about three quarters of an
hour W. waited there until nearly midulght as
and then We Reluctantly left this magnificent Sight,
which, w tell You, no description can give you any
Lien o. AZ We went up we had all gone Into l,tile
h0uAe N see II, aud walked around II and thought il
was unpleasanlly close 70 the lava. Well, as we |
came down this house was In names aud caught |
~ ~ me stream IN many places we had 10 take |
different paths. so quickly had the lava spread |
as u came down, and from below II Ia awful qnIie
close TO III 70 see this lnasA thirty or forty |
ieet high coming s0wly toward w. I brought |
piece oi rcd hot lava down with me, which the guide
sot hold o. ior me, ~ could not get II myself: Il
We put wire around II, and carried 1t down on the
end of my slick In fact we each brought bit |
down. and also some ashes or clnders which rained
down on VI whenever the wind was our way. We |
got back 70 Catania st about A:l5 A. ". We were |
w near tho crater nearly four hours. We saw other
here lew minutes, and 20 down again; but The
way 70 do Y 70 60 right high up, arriving by day
Rht and then stsy there 10 see Il by nigi1, aud |
watch the changes going on; It was GLORIOUS.