VISIT TO A CRATER.

Shannon News, 6 July 1923, Page 3

VISIT TO A CRATER.

DIN OFA THOUSAND FACTORIES,

A vivid description of the recent eruption of Mt. Etna was given by a special correspondent of the. London •‘Daily Mail.” “The scene is different from what might have been expected,” he wrote. “It is not precisely terrible, sinsc it is possible to approach the lava at the risk of having one’s face scorched, but the relentless flow is slowly crushing the houses out of shape, and smothering them ■under hundreds of thousands of tons of red-hot cinders. The first view of the mountain disclosed a river of smoko pouring down the slopes. On either side were large tracts of black and almost cooling lava. The air grow oppressive and very hot. A sudden bend of the road showed an example of relentless, if slow, destruction, A hazel-not grove was gradually disappearing- under the lava, the peasants idly and powcrlessly watching the creeping terror.” The writer visited one of the 20 erupting craters after a. ton-hour climb, mostly on mulcback. “For three miles, he wrote, ‘the way lay under forest ..ccs, whose branches were covered with soot. We then cminches deep in ash, which a week ago carried grass and bushes. Five hundred yards distant the lava river slid with a rustling sound. On either sides stood dykes of cooled lava. . “From beyond the steep slope came a <Jin like that of a thousand factories. Masses o.f white, grey, blue and saffron smoke poured out. The slope ended at a narrow ridge at the foot of which was a new crater about 1000 yards across. The whole of the irregular basin, 100 ft below the onlooker, was covered with red and black ' lava. Eighty yards distant a jagged heap, forming one of the volcano’s cinder heaps, was constantly fed by masses or! flaming lava, showered like a eolos sal fi rework display. Five new mouths were emitting 1 a thick, o,ily smoke with a roaring noise. This booming grew louder every 15 or 20 seconds, and then, with a vicious'crash and a rush of smoko, enormous blobs of molten lava were hurled into the air and f«rll glowing around the crater.”