Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/286

258 Esq., be accordingly admitted forthwith to all the privileges of Members of. the Royal Geographical Society, they not being already such, on their making payment as above; and that this act of Council be communicated to the Society at its first ordinary meeting, in November next, for its sanction and approval.'



Neapolitan schooner, Psyche, appears first to have discovered smoke on the water where the island is now situated on the 12th of July; and from the 13th to the 16th, this continued in three distinct columns, but without fire, as far as seen from a Sardinian vessel becalmed in the neighbourhood. On the 17th, the master of the brig Adelaide, from London, distinguished fire also; and it is probable that at this period, for the first time, the land rose to the surface. On the following day, as will be seen by the annexed letter, it had already attained considerable dimensions:–

',–I have the honour to inform you that on the 18th of July, 1851, at 4, the town of Marsala bearing by compass E. half N. 9 miles, I observed from on board his Majesty's sloop Rapid, under my command, a high irregular column of very white smoke or steam, bearing S. by E. I steered for it, and continued to do so fill 8, 15, , when having gone about thirty miles by the reckoning, I saw flashes of brilliant light mingled with the smoke, which was still distinctly visible by the light of the moon.

'In a few minutes the whole column became black and larger: almost immediately afterwards several successive eruptions of lurid fire rose up amidst the smoke: they subsided, and the column then became gradually white again. As we seemed to near it fast, I shortened sail, and hove to till day-light, that I might ascertain its nature and exact position. During the night the changes from white to black, with flashes and the eruptions of fire, continued at irregular intervals, varying from half an hour to an hour. At daylight I again steered towards it, and about 5, when the smoke had for a moment cleared away at the base, I saw