The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-09-22
gh aiehita ai1u Ezge Thnrsa ornng September e. 1882
MOUNT ETNA,
It's First Eruption Mentioned In History
Occurred in 425 B. c.

Occurred in 4e3 b. c.
Mount Htna, the eruption Of which
threatens to assume formida BILE pro
portions, is located in the northeas,
portion of the island of Sicily, adjacen,
to the sea and near the City of Catania-
1t is an isolated mountain of conical
form, and is separated from the other
mountains of Sicily by the valley of the
river Alcantara. 1t is 1o.9s5 feet in
height, and has a circumference, at its
base, of ninety miles. Its volcanic phe-
nomena are presented on greater scale
than those of any other European vol
cano, and attracted greater attention
from the ancients. Thucydides men
toned an eruption which occurred in
425 3. c. Four violent eruptions are
recorded as having occurred in twenty
years, viz: 40, 135, 1875 and 121 B. C.
In ancient as in modern times the vol
canic action of Mount -Etna was irreg-
ular and intermittent. On various oc-
casions the city Of Catania has been
nearly ruined by the eruptions Of the
volcano and the accompanying earth
quakes. Several of the ancient writer's
describe the upper part of the mountain
as covered with perpetual snow, but at
present snow lies there only during
eight Or nine months OF the year.
Eighty-one eruptions are recorded
since Etna has had history, the ear
lest in the the time of Pythagoras, the
most recent in 1874; Of these not moro
than nineteen have been of extreme
violence, while ma iority have been of
a slight and comparatively harmless
character. The recent eruptions were
in the years 1863, 1874, 1879, 1888 and
1856, that of 1868 being the last to be
classed among the exceptional disturb
ances. The eruption of 1885 commenced
on May IS, and continued until the FIRST
week in June. There were premoni-
tory symptoms in the form of earth
quakes and fall OF hot cinders, which
were thrown as far as Messina, some
eighty miles distant A lava stream
was seen to be issuing from crater in
the side of Monte Penitello about
mile south Of the English house where
the government observatory is situated.
''Twenty-four hours afterwards, wrote
an eyewitness to the London News,
streams of lava were seen coming out
at seven other points, and a day later
these seven new volcanoes all joined
the principal crater, so that red-hot
lava was poured down simultaneously
in volume nearly two miles in
breadth The rate of descent was reck-
oned at an average of twenty yards An
hour. From time to time great massive
stones were cast down, together with
deluge of hot water" As this stream
continued to advance for days, and
rolled nearer and nearer to Nico-
losi-the town situated at the foot Of
the mountain-the greatest alarm
was excited amongst the inhabitants,
who implored Heaven to avert the i'm
pending disaster. Thus the veil Of St
Agatha, the patron saint of the district,
who is said to have miraculously inter-
vened in the eruption which threatened
Catania in 1869, was borne through the
streets of Nicolosi with great ecclesias-
teal pomp, while the people brought
out the images of the saints from tho
churches to the piazza, and there prayed
FOR the desolating food to be arrested.
The stream was described by another
eyewitness, who assembled the mount
hin and looked down upon the crater, as
sea of bright red angry lava, mot IL
luid, as most people suppose, but con-
'isting of many millions of large and
small blocks Of rocky-looking stuff roll
ng onward" The eruption, however,
'lackened early in June, and finally
ceased on the 5th, after engulfing con.
rent and many woods and vineyards, at
/ point only a few hundred yards Of the
nearest house in Nicolosi For some
lays after, however, earthquakes of
,onsidera BILE violence continued to be
'elt throughout the Etna region, caus-
ng much terror, and in one place they
destroyed several houses.
The volcanoes majestic height is less
IMPOSING to the imagination than its
7ast extent, for ell Monte" has an area
If 462 square miles. Two cities, Cata-
Tia and Aci Reale. and sixty-two small
owns cluster upon the slopes Of the
.wful mountain, whose entrails are fire,
md whose breath is fame and light
ling. Catania has a population of
nearly 100, 900, and Aci ReaIe Of about
$1,000
Nine miles beneath the crater, which |
s 1000 feet in depth. three miles in
width ut was rent anew into great !
assures by the last eruption). the habit
bile zone commences, and is tenauted /
" 300, 600 souls. Only the Val del /
Sove, commencing two miles from the |
ummit, where Sir Charles Lyell be- /
ieves there formerly existed center of /
eruption, is altogether ster-
lie now: the other sides of the mount 1
in are clothed with trees at the same ,
cvel. And such trees, Fourteen sep /
forests form the Regione Selvosa,
nd they abound with oak. beech, pine
nd poplar, with the chestnut, the lex
nd the cork tree. Mariposa and Cal 1
veras cannot beat the ''Castagna di .
ento Cavalli." in the forest of Carpi-
etto. on the east side of the mountain,
n whose trunk, through which the
ublic road now passes. queen of Ara
on once took shelter, with suite of
90 horsemen- The Regione Coltivata,
those soil consists of decomposed lava,
) lavishly fruitful; of the three regions.
which the Descrta has the most pow
rful charm for the imagination, Bry-
one says:
Besides the corn, the wine. the oil.
ne silk, the spice, and delicious fruits
( its lower region; the beautiful forests
ne aecks, the game, the tar. the cork,
ne honey of its second: the snow and
e OF its third-it affords from It's cav
rms a variety OF minerals and other