Monte Finocchio, and the other to Monte
Calanna. Afterwards it flowed towards Zaffarana, and devastated a large
tract of woody region. Four days later a second crater was formed near
the first, from which lava was emitted together with sand and scoriae,
which caused cones to rise around the craters. The lava moved but
slowly, and towards the end of August it came to a stand, only a quarter
of a mile from Zaffarana: on the second of September, Gemellaro ascended
Monte Finocchio in the Val del Bove in order to witness the outburst. He
states that the hill was violently agitated, like a ship at sea. The
surface of the Val del Bove appeared like a molten lake; scoriae were
thrown up from the craters to a great height, and loud explosions were
heard at frequent intervals. The eruption continued to increase in
violence. On October 6th two new mouths opened in the Val del Bove,
emitting lava which flowed towards the Valley of Calanna, and fell over
the Salto della Giumenta, a precipice nearly 200 feet deep. The noise
which it produced was like that of the clash of metallic masses. The
eruption continued with abated violence during the early months of 1853,
and it did not finally cease till May 27. The entire mass of lava
ejected is estimated to be equal to an area six miles long by two miles
broad, with an average depth of about twelve feet.

I am indebted to M. Antonin Moris of Palermo for the following account
of the eruption of 1852:

The eruption of 1852 commenced on the 21st of August. The earthquakes,
the jets of flame from the great crater, and the subterranean rumblings
which usually precede an eruption, did not herald the approach of this
one. An English family, who were then making the ascent of the mountain,
together with a poor shepherd of Riposto, were the only witnesses of the
first outburst. The latter was asleep in the midst of his flocks, and
was awakened by violent shakings of the ground; he fled in haste, and
some seconds afterwards the earth opened with a loud noise, vomiting a
terrible column of fire, at the very spot which he had just abandoned.
An enormous crevasse opened on the north side of Trifoglietto in the
direction of the great crater. On its summit near the opening called the
Piccolo Teatro, several openings were produced at the very first, but
they only emitted feeble currents of lava. All the force of the eruption
was concentrated at the foot of the escarpment of the Serra di
Giannicola, 4 kil