have occurred of whole islands having been raised from the bed of
the ocean, or whole mountains upreared on the surface of the land,
far away from the sea, and that too in the short space of a few
hours. But of such we shall have occasion to speak more at large in
the sequel.

Of all the extraordinary productions that have ever been thrown up
by volcanoes, the strangest of all are fishes. How droll to dine
upon fish cooked in a volcano! A queer fish it must be that likes
to dwell in the bowels of a mountain--more especially of one whose
entrails are mostly of liquid fire. But of this also more fully
anon.

In addition to the solid materials thrown out by volcanoes, there
are sometimes poured forth torrents of boiling water and liquid
mud. More frequently, however, the water issues in the form of vast
columns of steam and sulphurous vapour. These ascend to great
heights in the air, and becoming gradually chilled, they form
immense masses of dark heavy clouds, similar to those we observe
before a thunderstorm. Nor is this resemblance apparent only. For
the clouds that overhang an active volcano during an eruption of
its vapours are, in reality, thunderclouds highly charged with
electricity. They accordingly produce what Baron Humboldt calls the
volcanic storm. It includes all the most terrible of atmospheric
phenomena--lightnings of extraordinary vividness; thunders that
peal and reverberate as if they would rend the echoes asunder;
torrents of rain that pour down upon the mountain and its
neighbourhood, hissing like thousands of serpents when they fall on
the glowing lava-torrent; and whirlwinds that sweep the volcanic
ashes round and round in vast eddies, and before whose violence no