red; earthquakes were prevalent, and vast volumes of smoke were
carried out to sea, seeming to form a gigantic bridge between Sicily
and Africa. A torrent of lava flowed toward Aderno, and a second
flowed into the Val del Bue as far as Zuccolaro. A pit called La
Cisterna, forty feet in diameter, opened in the Piano del Lago near
the great cone, and ejected smoke and masses of old lava saturated
with water. Several mouths opened below the crater, and the country
round about Zaffarana was desolated.

In 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800, 1802, 1805, and 1808 slight eruptions
occurred. In March, 1809, no less than twenty-one mouths of fire
opened between the summit of the mountain and Castiglione, and two
years afterward more than thirty mouths opened in a line running
eastward from the summit for five miles. They ejected jets of fire,
accompanied by much smoke. 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
Bue. The lava flowed until it reached a nearly perpendicular precipice
at the head 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 three feet an hour nine months after its emission.

Eruptions occurred in 1831, 1832, 1838, and 1842. Near the end of the
following year, fifteen mouths of fire opened near the crater of 1832,
at a height of 7,000 feet above the sea. They began by discharging
scoriae and sand, and afterward lava, which divided into three
streams, the two outer of which soon came to a standstill, while the
central stream continued to flow at the rapid rate of 180 feet a
minute, the descent being an angle of 25 deg. The heat at a distance of
120 feet from the current was 90 deg. F. A new crater opened just above
Bronte, and discharged lava which threatened the town, but it
fortunately encountered Monte Vittoria, and was diverted into another
course. While a number of the inhabitants of Bronte were watching the
progress of the lava, the front of the stream was suddenly blown out
as by an explosion of gunpowder. In an instant red-hot masses were
hurled in every direction, and a cloud of vapor enveloped everythin