(_For the Mirror_.)


To describe the awful grandeur and terrific phenomena of volcanic
eruptions in an adequate manner, is perhaps beyond the power of
language. The number of volcanoes now known is about four hundred;
nearly all of them are situated a small distance from the sea, and many
appear to have been burning from time immemorial.

A certain mixture of sulphur, steel-filings and water, buried a short
depth from the ground, will exhibit a kind of miniature volcano; and
hence some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by
moisture, and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and
explosions. The mouth or chimney of a burning mountain is, in many
instances, upwards of a mile across! from which, in an eruption, are
emitted torrents of smoke and flame, rivers of lava, (consisting chiefly
of bitumen and melted metal,) and clouds of cinders, stones, &c. to an
immense distance. The wonderful quantity of these materials thrown out
from the orifice almost exceeds belief; the lava rushes like a fiery
torrent at a very rapid pace,--ravages the labours of agriculture,
overthrows houses, and in a few seconds utterly destroys the hopes of
hundreds of families--the toils of hundreds of years. Nothing impedes
its awful course; when interrupted by stone walls, or even rocks, it
collects in a few moments to the height of eight or ten feet; its
immense heat and violent pressure quickly batter down the obstacle,
which is literally made rotten by the fire, and the whole mass seems to
melt together into the lava, which again continues its progress until
exhausted by the distance of its destructive march.