GREAT SPECTACLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23072, 24 June 1938, Page 8

GREAT SPECTACLE

stbomboli eruption

' LIKE A FLAMING TORCH * LAVA FLOWS TO THE SEA I ■ [from our own correspomdext] LONDON. June 4 ; Stromboli, the island volcano be. ?M tween Messina and the mainland, wai in full eruption all day on Wednesday and made an impressive sight. Passing ships were slowed down so | that their crews could admire the picture of the volcano throwing up fire, ashes, and a river of lava from a height of 2700 ft. Sailors of the south' call it their lighthouse, but on Wednesday night it was a flaming torch. The eruption began late on the previous Sunday afternoon, but only the staff of the Geophysical Institute in Messina were aware of the fact. The Italian Government offered to take the inhabitants, numbering about 1800 -fishermen and their families, pff the island, but they refused to move.. They said that as the eruption started on the easterly slopes, called Sciara del Fuoco, there could be no danger either to their vineyards or cottages or to themselves. v The volcano on Wednesday night gave the impression that the whole cone of Stromboli mountain was on fire and that the inhabitants must be swallowed up. But as the track of the fire was one side and the eruption was confined to the slope that runs into the sea, visitors who were watching from all kinds of craft could enjoy one of the greatest thrills of the world in perfect safety. The lava, bright red, but merely peat colour, with patches of fire, in daytime, crept slowly down to the sea. It looked like a prehistoric monster with its tail endlessly emerging from the top. of the mountain. Its long, serpentine body was occasionally severed 1 by deafening explosions. These wore frequently followed by the throwing up of black blocks of lava the size ol cottages. As this slow-moving carcass dipped into the sea a tremendous hissing emerged, followed by fountains of steam, which rose violently. Then great clouds of smoke and ashes were thrown into the heated air. Each block of moving lava slipped into the water like J a great mass of stone and sank. Climbers were forbidden to go np ji the mountain until danger had passed