Wonders of Creation

romboli-Origin o

of Crater-New Vol

eding its Elevation-

appearance-Rise of

Στρογγυλη which was given to it because of its round swelling form. This is a very fussy little volcano, for it keeps perpetually puffing, growling, and fuming. It throws out columns of steam, and at intervals stones, cinder

by M. Hoffmann, a celebrated Prussian geologist, who, while being held fast by his companions, leant over the crag

ustations of sulphur coat the walls of its chimney. Close by this mouth is another, somewhat nearer the precipice, only twenty feet wide, in which I could observe the play of the column of liquid lava, which a

of the steam which resisted them. The surface rose and fell rhythmically: there was heard a peculiar sound, like the crackling of air from bellows entering the door of a furnace. A bubble of white vapour issued at each crack, raisin

nhaled by the crater, from the bottom of which the lava rose more strongly as if to encounter it. Then the ground trembles, and the walls of the crater starting bend. It was quite an earthquake. The mouth of the crater uttered a

a, or Graham's Isla

feet, and in passing over our heads described parabolas of fire. Immediately after such an eruption, the lava withdrew to the bottom of the chimney, which then yawned black a

es, that the German philosopher must, on this occasion, have greatly resemble

led existence. She was not born like others of her name, but rose suddenly and majestically out of the sea, as the poets feign that Venus did of old. She did not,

crater she must have been. It was a French philosopher (Constant Prévost) who christened her Julia; but it is hard to divine what prompted him to

crew of a Sicilian ship, which was sailing at a distance of about six miles from Sciacca, suddenly observed in the sea a jet of water about 100 feet high. It rose into the air with a thundering noise, sustained itself for about ten minutes, and then fell down. Similar jets continued to rise in succession, at intervals of about a quarter

d of some thickness on the beach. So great was the drift of volcanic ashes, that boats could hardly struggle through the water, and multitudes of dead fishes floated on its surface. Next morning they saw rising out

or Graham's Island, on

of steam, along with ashes, cinders, stones, &c. The water which boiled in this crater was reddish, and the cinders, which covered the sea all round the island, were of a chocolate colour. The island subsequently attained a height of upwards of 90 feet at its highest point, and a circumferenc

ceeded to examine the crater, in which he found a circular basin filled with reddish water, almost boiling hot, and fresh. This basin was nearly 200 feet in diameter. There rose from the

ater of Julia, or

from the crater there rose sulphurous vapours, which deposited sulphur and salt. The loose dust and ashes forming the soil of the island were h

so that, although the island has disappeared, there is still a shoal left behind. This temporary volcano is best known in England under the name of Graham's Island; so called after an English naval officer of that name, who was the

f eruptions similar in their attendant circumstances to those which accompanied the upheaval of Julia. The first warnings were given on the 30th of January 1866, by low underground rumblings, and slight movements of the ground at the south end of New Kammeni, one of the formerly upheaved islands in the bay. Next day these phenomena increased in violence, and quantities of gas bubbled