[Illustration: Crater of Julia, or Graham's Island.]

These bubbles rose from a great depth, and each, on bursting, which
it did with a feeble report, threw out sand and cinders. At a short
distance from the crater there rose sulphurous vapours, which
deposited sulphur and salt. The loose dust and ashes forming the
soil of the island were hot, and walking on them was difficult. The
foregoing woodcut will give you an idea of the appearance which the
crater presented to those visitors.

In the following month of October nothing remained of this
wonderful island but a hillock of sand and cinders; and at the end
of six months it had quite vanished. Soundings taken a few years
ago show ten feet of water over the spot, so that, although the
island has disappeared, there is still a shoal left behind. This
temporary volcano is best known in England under the name of
Graham's Island; so called after an English naval officer of that
name, who was the first to set foot on it, and who planted upon it
the English flag, so claiming it for his sovereign. The Sicilians
allege this to be the reason why it disappeared so soon--that it
was in a hurry to escape from under the English yoke.

Similar phenomena have been taking place during the past year,
1866, in the Bay of Santorin, situated in the island of that name,
which lies to the northward of Crete. There are several islands in
the bay, all apparently of volcanic origin, and one of them was
thrown up about three centuries before the beginning of the
Christian era. Last year their number was increased by a series of
eruptions similar in their attendant circumstances to those which
accompanied the upheaval of Julia. The first warnings were given on