ouths of fire opened in the
direction of Castiglione. They ejected volumes of smoke, large
quantities of scoriae and ashes, and afterwards lava, which, uniting into
one torrent, flowed with a front of 450 feet for 8 miles. Fissures were
formed in the earth, and loud explosions constantly occurred within the
great crater; a small cone was thrown up.

69. Two years afterwards more than thirty mouths opened in a line
running eastwards for five miles. They ejected jets of fire accompanied
by much smoke. The eruptions soon diminished in the higher mouths, and
became more and more violent in the lower mouths, until the eruption
centred in the lowest one called S. Simone, near the head of the Val del
Bove. From this, great black clouds, having a lustre like that of black
wool, issued, and afterwards quantities of lava, which formed a stream
a mile wide, and eight miles long. It flowed nearly as far as the
village of Milo. Frequent earthquakes accompanied this outburst, and
they continued in various parts of the island for the following five
years.

70. In 1819 five new mouths of fire opened near the scene of the
eruption of 1811; three of these united into one large crater, and
poured forth a quantity of lava into the Val del Bove. The lava flowed
until it reached a nearly perpendicular precipice at the bend of the
valley of Calanna, over which it fell in a cascade, and, being hardened
by its descent, it was forced against the sides of the tufaceous rock at
the bottom, so as to produce an extraordinary amount of abrasion,
accompanied by clouds of dust, worn off by the friction. Mr. Scrope
observed that the lava flowed at the rate of about a yard an hour, nine
months after its emission.

71. A slight eruption occurred in 1831 from the great crater, which
threw out lava on its northern side.

72. In October of the following year a violent eruption occurred. A new
crater was formed in the Val del Serbo, above Bronte and three miles
from the summit. Seven mouths afterwards opened, three miles below the
first. From one of these lava was emitted, which flowed to within a mile
and a half of Bronte. The stream was a mile and a half broad, and 40
feet deep.

73. A slight eruption occurred in 1838, when a small quantity of lava
was poured from the great crater into the Val del Bove.

74. Four years later the crater discharged ashes and scoriae, and lava
burst from the cone 300 feet from the summit. It flowed into the Val del
Bov