Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 004.djvu/145

 Of those Burnt Stones or Sciarri, I have some by me of divers qualities, and shall procure what more I can, to be sent by the first passage.

About the middle of May we made another Journey thither, where we found the face of things much altered, the City of Catania being three quarters of it compassed round with these Sciarri, as high as the top of the Wals; and in many places it had broke over. The first night of our arrival a new streame or gutter of Fire broke forth among some Sciarri, which we were walking upon an hour or two before, and they were as high as to be even with the top of the Wall. It powred itself down into the Citty in a small gutter of about 3. foot broad, and 9. foot long of meer Fire, the extremities still falling off into those Sciarri; but this streame was extinct by the next morning, though it had filled up a great void place with its Sciarri. The next night was another much bigger Channel discovered, powring itself over another part of the Wall into the Castle-ditch, which continued (as we were informed) some days after our departure. Divers of those smal Rivolets did run at the same time into the Sea, and it does so still at this very day, though faintly.

It was observed, that those streams of Fire never grew broader nor visibly longer, nor moved out of the place, they were seen in; which put us a little more to examine their working, and we did conclude, that not only then, but in the fury also of its running, it made it self certain crufted gutters to run in, to keep itself, as 'twere from the Air, which by degrees did cool and fix it, as more plainly appear'd above at the Mouth, where, the first time of our going thither, we found the Sciarri generally thus coold and fixt. And hence also it might proceed, that these live Sciarri, meeting with any bank or high ground, would puff and swell up, till they had overcome it; so that in many places, especially under the Wals of Catania, were Vallys of those Sciarri, and the Fire never brork forth, or discovered itself in those streams, until it had gain'd its hight; for those rivolets ever went declining.

Having spent a couple of days about Catania we again went up to the Mouth, where now without any danger of Fire