SNOW AND FIRE STORM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10049, 23 May 1910, Page 3

SNOW AND FIRE STORM.

During the recent terrifying eruption which occurred in Sicily,. many craters, old and new mouths of the giant Sicilian volcano, Etna, suddenly opened, and four of them were discharging a river of fiery lava twice as wide aa the Thames and twelve feet deep down upon the vineyards and the chestnut groves and the pretty villages that have grown again in the years that Etna has been slumbering. i

The moulten stream was over five hundred yards in width.and the plains of Bottari and San Leo, smiling a few hour 3in the sunshine, were already a smoking lake of fire, in which the profusion of country villas, the beautiful vineyards and groves were submerged.

And the Sicilians judging by the histury of former days, looked upon this as but the beginning of the disaster. Etna has eighty great catastrophies to its account in history, the geatest being recorded in 1693, when the volcano destroyed forty towns and a hundred thousand people.

Having engulfed the furtile plains already mentioned, the lava, flowing at the rate of a mile in two hours, pressed towards the populous district of Belpasso. The helpless inhabitants were in tears, abandoning their homes and seizing sacred relics and images of saints from the churches to place in front ot the oncoming peril in the vain hope of staying by a miracle what no human power could stop.

Twenty-three sßocks of earthquake were by that time registered at the Etna Observatory in the spHce of eight hours. The eruption offered a spectacle describsd as one [oil awful grandeur. Some parts of the volcano. which covers nearly a hundred square miles of territory, an area many time 9as large as London, were veiled in dense fogs, while at other places there were snowstorm?, deluging rain, or a heavy hail of red-hot stones and ashes. The whole mountain was ever and anon shaken ,by terrific explosions in the interior. The whole of the region for many miles around Etna was now in a state oi great panic", for clouds of glowing ashes were being shot up from the en craters, and no one could say how the wind might change and the clouds might fall. The villages of Capriole and Borello were deserted, and the meteorological observatory near the latter place wa3 buried by the lava. Eight soldiers were killed and many people injured.

PROFESSOR'S NARROW ESCAPE. By Saturdauy the width of the lava stream varied from a hundred to a thousand yards. The spectacle was a noble one. English and American tourists and others, by motor, cycle, and train, made all speed to the villages at the foot of the volcano to behold its grandeur. Above the top of the volcano towered a huge cone of flame, combining all colours from deep purple to a sort of golden pink.

The heat thrown off from the Java was so tierce that it was impossible to approach closer than forty yards. Amid the prolonged and almost continuous rumblings of the eruption numerous religious processions paraded the threatened districts. Cardinal Francio Nava took to NicoHbi and Beipasso, which were menaced, the miraculous veil of Saint Agatha, which the people believed would stop the lava.

Professor Riccio, Director of the Etna Observatory, being desirous of ascertaining the different orifices through which the eruption was proceeding, went too near, and was carried away in a whirlpool of ashes and lapilli. He only managed to extricate himself with difficulty. At night the eruption diminished in violence, and the rumblings were infrequent and subdued.

The lava near San Leo increased in volume, but the stream which had been flowing towards Bnrello became stationary, while that moving towards the Lisi plain flowed more slowly. On Monday morning the lava invaded the district of Fra Diavolo, and another branch of the stream was approaching the vineyards near Monte Fusara, while a third, 400 rcetres broad, coming from Monta San Leo; was advancing steadily, devastating the apple orchards and vineyards.

A thick rain of ashes and small •stones was again falling, ,and this combined with the continuous loud rumblings, had a terrifying effect on thti population, who were forming religious processions, and having the church bells tolled.