Nicaragua almost
infinite in number. In Mexico, are Orezaba, Popocatepetl, and Jorullo;
the last of which first rose from beneath the surface in 1759.
California has five active volcanoes; and we know, from the observations
of La Perouse and Cook, that they also exist along the north-western
coast of America. Mount St. Elias, in particular, was seen in a state of
eruption. These mountains connect those of Mexico with the volcanoes of
the Aleutian islands and of the peninsula of Alaska, which continue the
system towards Kamtschatka, in which peninsula there are three of great
violence. We have seen some proofs, that there are active volcanoes to
the north-west of China, but none now exist in Thibet; and the action
that once took place there has sought new vents, in regions more near to
the present bed of the ocean. Thus, Japan has eight volcanoes, Formosa
several, and, in proceeding to the south, the land of volcanic action
widens, and becomes of immense extent. It embraces the Philippine,
Marian, and Molucca islands, Java, Sumatra, Queen Charlotte's islands,
and the New-Hebrides. The active volcanoes of Europe and western Asia
are few in number; but those that are extinct form a great system, in
which the active ones are included, and which seems to spread in the
form of a belt, from the Caspian sea to the Atlantic. Volcanic action
still occurs on the shores of the Caspian. In the chain of Elburg is a
lofty mountain that still emits smoke, and around whose base are several
distinct craters. Syria and Palestine abound in volcanic appearances, of
which the great crater that has swallowed up the waters of the Jordan,
and forms the Dead sea, is the most remarkable. Greece and the Grecian
Archipelago have been, almost within historic times, the seat of a
volcanic action, of great extent and violence, and which has not wholly
exhausted itself. In Sicily, AEtna has burnt for 3300 years, and is yet
surrounded by extinct craters of more ancient date. The Lipari islands
are wholly volcanic. Vesuvius, that had long before intermitted its
eruptions, and broke forth again in the great one that destroyed
Herculaneum and Pompeii, is not the only volcanic mountain of Naples. An
extinct one of much greater size is to be found near Roccafina. The
catacombs of Rome are excavated in lava, and Tuscany contains strong
evidences of volcanic action. Volcanic indications can be traced near
Padua, Verona, and Vicenza, extending into Dalmatia. A di