Show Sicilian S v Volcano Has Spewed Forth Since Davs Dav of nf Christ f i iZ 7 tr e i 0 L rk e i oi I 5 l k iL S S. S i t J C r c r e I 7 S 0 r OO 5 p 1 l r i r f oo I r This striking picture picture- of a volcano in shows Mt Vesuvius Mt Etnas Etna's fiery neighbor in action Deep rumbling explosions accompany pany the flow of lava from the smoking crater The lower picture shows a wall of moving lava pushing irresistibly onward at a speed of about ive five miles an hour and ald burying everything in its path Mt Etna Once Built Island It Now Devastates Devastates' ROME N A Mount Etna th the creator and the destroyer of the Island of ot Sicily is subsiding after another of its peri periodical rampages The old familiar story of destruction ion Uon and death rolling forth from its ts stained fire mouth mouth is getting an another an- an oth other r retelling For nearly twenty-five twenty centuries Etna has taken a more or less tess' reg- reg I ular lar toll toIl of the lives and property of th Olin who TIAM it rh H poet Pindar writing nearly neaTly 00 years years rears before the Christian era spoke of the violence and destructiveness destructiveness of ot its eruptions and since Ince then the story has been repeated re repeated re- re more times than anyone can count Yet if It Etna turns parts tsP of Sicily now and then into scorched l lava buried ava-buried burled desolations Etna per- per haps laps has the li right night ht for it was Etna that hat built Sicily in the first pl place ce VOLCANO BUILT ISLAND Long long ago probably before men appeared on the earth at all all there was no land and where Sicily now is The sea rolled there un un- un une broken Far beneath the bottom of this sea subterranean fires were were generating generating gen gen- a a. long series of ot explosions They forced the sea sea flo floor r rp up p And Ittle tittle by little thrust a a. cone- cone coner shaped rocky Islet above the surf sur sur- surf f face the the summit of Mount Etna This new Islet was as active a volcano as the use world worM had seen Its eruptions were violent and Ire fre quent Each one poured forth a new stream of ot molten motten lava lava- buildIng build build- Ing ng the cone higher and higher and each time adding a little to the he bla black k beach that began to take form at its base In the course COUrSe I of thousands of ot years the entire island nd was built up in this way The lava cooled disintegrated grated in sun and wind and rain became rich black soil Vegetation took hold in iii in abundance ance and when the republic of ot Rome s s. s struggled Sf to Hv v through A its birth I S I a auy uy a. a garden gar gar- den spot thickly populated with farmers MENACE EVER PRESENT But the the people who who- live tie on Sicily have never never b been en free from the he mena menace e of ot the toe towering moun moun- tam aln In the year 12 A. A D D. for forin In In- Instance in instance stance the Roman empire TC- TC mUted Sicily's taxes for tor a decade de-cade b because cause of damage caused by an an- eruption Again in 1169 a a. flood load of ot lava tava destroyed destroY d the tine cathedral at Catania Catania Cata Cata- nia chief city of Sicily killing hundreds of worshipers and t the e bish bishop p who was officiating there Five hundred years later a a. tremendous tremendous tre tre- tre- tre wall of lava came down on Ott the city like a moving mount moun moun- t lain ain in destroying a a. large part of ot the city and ruining the harbor Twenty thousand people lost their lives ives A score score of ot years years- aft after r that there cam came a a. terrific earthquake that killed many more In Id another an an another an- an other eruption nearly d destroyed the taking lives Then followed a a. number of relatively quiet ears with no Jio disturbance of ot real size until 1879 when another violent eruption took place 20 VILLAGES In 1910 Etna ELan renewed its ac- ac with a series serle s of earthquakes and minor eruptions that culminated in an shaking earth catastrophe catastrophe catas- catas in 1914 when a a. score of ot villages s were destroyed and anti people were were killed The loss toss of would have been beers many tI times tIms s greater in let the tile 1911 1914 disaster hadnot had hadnot hadnot not a group of minor earthquakes given advance ance warning and en ent ent en- en t t people to te get out of ot the way Then in 1923 came another catastrophe d destroying the homes of people and taking many more live lives Since th then n Etna has slumbered until slumbered until now now Vesuvius is probably the best- best advertised volcano Jn the ti tI world w-orld but for tor destructiveness it it has never neVel compared with Mount Etna nor nor for that matter has bas any other volcano Since the destruction destruction tion of ot Pompeii and Hercul Vesuvius has done little extensive damage Etna's Etnas outbursts outbursts' however however how Isow- ever never seem to end A point point- worth noting is is' the difference difference difference dif dif- dif dif- ference between the holocaust t nat mat pompeii and ana Hercula- Hercula r and the eruption that Etna Etnas i is s now having BURIED BY ASHES The lost cities of the Romans were ere buried under thousands of t tons ons of volcanic ash asli and dust The h houses remained intact Etna on the he t other hand out streams out streams I o of f lava Java that move nove acro across cros s the c countryside knocking do down n or b burning everything in their path Often this tills lava congeals into solid r rock ock a city buried by Etna can cans cannot cannot n not ot be excavated It It simply has baa hasto t to o be rebuilt Etna Is a huge m mountain towering towering tow tow- e ering ring feet above sea level tevel a and nd measuring some 90 00 miles mites a around round the base There are many extinct craters on its its its' sides aides the countless c streams of ot lava that have p poured forth from its sides at various va va- va r rious ious times have made made- innumerable fissures f for their escape As a des description of the tine mechanics mechanics me me- hanics c of ot an eruption the follow follow- f l In ing og excerpt from an article written writ written t ten en by an an Italian scientist at the tho thelast l last tast eruption that eruption that of 1923 1923 ls is of Int Interest i rest A gigantic subterranean fissure f formed ormed In the body o of the mountain moun moun- t tain am running northeast from the a apex and filled tilled with molten lava tava af af from f the core of ot the volcano This fissure approached the surface and s suddenly at in the morning b burst out with a a. tremendous explosion explosion ex ex- p and earthquake forming I- I SEA SI J. J RIPOSTO Mt ETNA S SICILY At the toe of ot the big boot formed by Italy is the little island of Sicily Built by volcanic eruptions from Mt Etna and still devastated at in in in- intervals by the same This map shows the principal towns in the area of the most recent eruption an enormous us cleft a a. mile long tong and several several- yards wideAn wide An hour and a half later the underground fissure had extended a no mile and a half halt farther again bursting out to the surface at an elevation of feet DurIng During Dur Dur- ing the first 14 hours the molten torren of lava rushed down the steep stoop mountainside at the rate of five miles mUes an hour the narrow stream finally reaching a a. small plain elevation in the middle rf et if which stood the village of ot Cerro The lava iava had spread out more than thana a mile In width and had a depth of 50 to feet forming a a. molten Jake sake covered with blade black solidified lava stones atones I |