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VOLCANIC MOUNTAIN OF ALBAY.

THE following details of the dreadful eruption of the Volcano of Albay, in the Island of Luconia, one of the Philipines, on the 1st of February, 1814, are from an eye witness of the dreadful scenes it presented.

During thirteen years the Volcano of Albay had preserved a profound silence. It was no longer viewed with that distrust and horror with which volcanoes usually inspire those who inhabit the vicinity. Its extensive and spacious brow had been converted into highly cultivated and beautiful gardens. On the first day of January last, no person reflected, in the slightest degree, upon the damages and losses which so bad a neighbour had once occasioned. Previously to the former eruptions there had been heard certain subterraneous sounds, which were presages of them. But upon the present occasion we remarked nothing, except that on the last day of January we perceived some slight shocks. In the night the shocks increased. Attwo in the morning one was felt more violent than those hitherto experienced. It was repeated at four, and from that time they were almost continual until the eruption commenced.

The day broke, and I scarcely ever remarked in Camarines a more serene and pleasant morning. I observed, however that the ridges nearest to the volcano were covered with mist, which I supposed to be the smoke of some house that might have been on fire in the night. But at eight o'clock the volcano began suddenly to emit a thick column of stones, sand, and ashes, which with the greatest velocity, was elevated into the highest regions of the atmosphere. At this sight we were filled with the utmost dread, especially when we observed that in an instant the brow of the volcano was quite covered. We had never seen a similar eruption, but were convinced that a river of fire was flowing towards us, and was about to consume us. The first thing which was done in my village was to secure the holy sacrament from profanation! we then betook ourselves to flight. The swiftness with which the dreadful tide rolled towards us, did not give us time either for reflection or consultation. The frigthtful noise

of the volcano caused great terror even in the stoutest hearts. We all ran, filled with dismay and consternation, endeavouring to reach the highest and most distant places, to preserve ourselves from so imminent a danger. The horizon began to darken, and our anxieties redoubled. The noise of the volcano continually increased, the darkness augmented, and we continued our flight. But, notwithstanding our swiftness, we were overtaken by a heavy shower of huge stones, by the violence of which many unfortunate persons were in a moment killed. This cruel circumstance obliged us to make a pause in our career, and to shelter ourselves under the houses; but the flames and burnt stones which fel! from above,in a short time reduced them to ashes.

The sky was now completely overcast, and we remained enveloped and immersed in a thick and palpable darkness. From that moment reflection was at an end. The mother abandoned her children, the husband his wife, and the chidren forgot their parents.

In the houses we had no longer any shelter. It was necessary to abandon, or perish with them; yet, to go out uncovered, was to expose one's self to a danger not less imminent, because many of the stones were of an enormous size, and they fell as thick as drops of rain. It was necessary to defend ourselves as well as we could. Some covered themselves with hides, others with tables and chairs, and others with boards and tea-trays. Many took refuge in the trunks of trees, others among the canes and hedges, and some hid themselves in a cave, when the brow of a mountain protected them.

About ten o'clock the heavy stones ceased to fall, and a rain of thick sand succeeded. At half past one the noise of the volcano began to diminish, and the horizon to clear a little; and at two it became quite tranquil; and we now began to perceive the dreadful ravages which the darkness had hitherto concealed from us. The ground was covered with dead bodies, part of whom had been killed by the stones, and the others consumed by the fire. Two hundred perished in the church of Budiao, and thirty-five in a single house in that village. The joy the living felt at having preserved themselves, was in many converted into the extremity of sorrow at finding themselves deprived of their relations and friends. Fathers found their children dead,

husbands their wives, and wives their husbands, in the village of Budiao, where there were very few who had not lost some of their nearest connexions. In other places we found many persons extended upon the ground, wounded or bruised in a thousand ways. Some with their legs broken, somė without arms, some with their skulls fractured, and others covered with wounds. Many died immediately, others on the following days, and the rest were abandoned to the most melancholy fate, without physicians, without medicines, and in want even of necessary food.

Five populous towns were entirely destroyed by the eruption; more than twelve hundred of the inhabitants perished amidst the ruins; and twenty thousand who survived the awful catastrophe, were stripped of their possessions. and reduced to beggary.

The subsequent appearance of the volcanic mountain was most melancholy and terrific. Its side, formerly so well cultivated, and which afforded a prospect the most picturesque, is now become a barren sand. The stones, sand, and ashes, which cover it, in some places exceed the depth of ten and twelve yards; and on the ground where lately stood the village of Budiao, there are spots, in which the cocoa-trees are almost covered. In the ruined villages, and through the whole extent of the eruption, the ground remains buried in the sand to the depth of half a yard, and scarcely a single tree is left alive. The crater of the volcano has lowered more than one hundred and twenty feet; and the south side discovers a spacious and horrid mouth, which is frightful to the view. Three new ones have opened at a considerable distance from the principal crater, through which also smoke and ashes are incessantly emitted. In short, the most beautiful villages of Camrines, and the principal part of that fine province, are deeply covered with barren sand.

ISLANDS WHICH HAVE RISEN FROM THE SEA.

BESIDES the convulsions of nature displayed in volcanoes, the most remarkable particulars of which we have given in our history of mountains, other operations are carried on below the fathomless depths of the sea, the nature of which

can only be conjectured by the effects produced. Nor is it more astonishing that inflamable substances should be found beneath the bottom of the sea, than at similar depths on land, and that there also the impetuous force of fire should cause the imprisoned air and elastic gasses to expand, and, by its mighty force, should drive the earth at the bottom of the sea above its surface. These Marine volcanoes are perhaps more frequent, though they do not so often come within the reach of human observation, than those on land; and stupenduous must be the operations carried on, when matter is thrown up to an extent which the ingenuity of man does not enable him to reach by fathoming.

Many instances have occured, as well in ancient as in modern times, of Islands having been formed in the midst of the sea; and their sudden appearance has constantly been preceded by violent agitations of the surrounding waters, accompanied by dreadful noises, and in some instances, by fiery eruptions from the newly-formed isles, which are composed of various substances, frequently intermixed with a considerable quantity of volcanic lava.— Such Islands remain for ages barren, but in a long course of time become abundantly fruitful. It is a matter of curious inquiry, whether springs are found on such newly-created spots, when the convulsions which gave them birth have subsided; but on this point it would seem that we are not possessed of any certain information, as it does not appear that they have been visited by any naturalist with the express view of recording their properties.

Among the writers of antiquity who have transmitted accounts of Islands which have thus started up to the view of the astonished spectator, Seneca asserts that, in his time, the Island of Therasea, in the Eagen sea, was seen to rise in this manner, by several mariners who were sailing near the point of its ascent. Pliny's relation is still more extraordinary; for he says that in the Mediterranean, thirteen islands emerged at once from the sea, the cause of which he ascribes rather to the retiring of the waters, than to any subterraneous operation of nature: but he speaks at the same time of the island of Hiera, in the vicinity of Therasea, as having been formed by subterraneous explosions, and enumerates several others said to have been derives from a similar origin, in oue of which he says, a great

abundance of fishes were found, of which however all who ate perished soon after.

It is to the Grecian Archipelago and the Azores that we are to look for the grandest and most surprising instances of this phenomenon. We will select an example from each of these groupes of islands, beginning with the former.

Before we enter, however, on the somewhat minute details we shall have to bring forward, on this very curious and interresting subject, it may not be improper to observe, that the Island of Acroteri, of great celebrity in ancient history, appears to have its surface composed of pumice stone, encrusted by a surface of fertile earth; and that it is represented by the ancients as having risen, during a violent earthquake, from the sea. Four neighbouring Islands are described as having a similar origin, notwithstanding the sea is in that part of the Archipelago of such a depth as to be unfathomable by any sounding line. These arose at different times: the first long before the commencement of the Christian era; the second in the first century; the third in the eighth; and the fourth in 1573.

To proceed to a phenomenon of a similar nature, belonging to the same cluster of islands, which bring of a more recent date, we are enabled to enter into all its particulars. They are such as cannot fail to interest and surprise.

On the 22d of May, 1707, a severe earthquake was felt at Stanchio, an island of the Archipelago; and on the ensuing morning a party of seamen, discovering not far off what they believed to be a wreck, rapidly rowed towards it; but finding rocks and earth instead of the remains of a ship, hastened back, and spread the news of what they had seen in Santorini, another of these islands. However great the apprehensions of the inhabitants were at the first sight, their surprise soon abated, and in a few days, seeing no appearance of fire or smoke, some of them ventured to land on the new island. Their curiosity led them from rock to rock, where they found a kind of white stone, which yielded to the knife like bread, and nearly resembled that substance in colour and consistence. They also found many oysters sticking to the rocks; but while they were employed in collecting them, the Island moved and shook under their feet, on which they ran with precipitation to