third in 1587, when an earthquake shook the island of St. George, and eighteen small islets rose in the ocean near its shores. The last example in this locality, and the most celebrated, occurred in the year 1811, when the temporary island of Sabrina rose from the deep off the coast of St. Michael. A dangerous shoal was first thrown up from a depth of two hundred and forty feet of water. This took place in February. On the 13th of June the island showed itself above the surface of the sea, and continued rapidly to increase for several days, till it attained the height of three hundred feet, and was about a mile in circumference. It had a beautiful crater, with an opening thirty feet wide, from which hot water poured into the sea. In the month of October of the same year the island began gradually to disappear, and by the end of February, 1812, no trace of it was visible above the waves, though vapours occasionally rose from the spot. Mr. Bakewell states, upon the authority of a person who visited the Azores in 1813, that there was near five hundred feet of water at the place where Sabrina formerly had stood.

Barren Island, in the Indian Ocean, is one of the most remarkable volcanic islands now in active existence; the cone, situated nearly in the centre of the island, emits vast

volumes of smoke, and showers of red-hot stones, some of which weigh three and four tons, and are cast to a distance of some hundreds of yards beyond the base; a scanty vegetation finds a precarious existence on the outer ridges, often blasted by the violence of the eruptions: it is about six leagues in circumference, and may be distinguished from the rest of the Andaman Islands for a distance of thirty-six miles in clear weather; the base of the cone or crater is but very little higher than the level of the ocean, although the cone itself rises abruptly to the height of 1800 feet; it is surrounded by a wall of nearly equal height, which drops almost perpendicularly into the sea. At a quarter of a mile from the shore there is no bottom found at 150 fathoms.

Among the Alentian isles, a group in the North Pacific, stretching from Asia to North America, which consist of black masses of lava, rising perpendicularly from the sea, and peering above the clouds, a new island arose in the year 1806, which has remained firm. Its general form was that of an immense peak, studded with small conical hills, upwards of four geographical miles in circumference. Another new isle was here produced in the year 1814, which rose up to the height of three thousand feet, then slightly subsided, and has firmly established itself as a member of the Alentian group.

In the year 1783 an island was formed by elevation at the distance of seventy miles

from Cape Reykiawas in Iceland. This was attended by the ejection of such an immense quantity of pumice, that the surface of the ocean was covered with it to the distance of a hundred and fifty miles, and the spring ships were considerably impeded in their course. The island consisted of high cliffs, and emitted fire, smoke, and pumice from two or three different points. It was claimed by the King of Denmark, who denominated it Nyöe, or the New Island, but before a year had elapsed, the sea resumed its ancient domain, a rocky reef remaining under the surface at the spot where this portentous production had appeared. The submarine eruption was a prelude to some of the most violent convulsions that have marked the annals of Iceland. After repeated shocks of earthquakes, the Skaptar volcano was roused into terrific activity, and threw out the largest body of lava ever witnessed since the period of authentic records. The quantity of ashes was so great as to affect the whole European atmosphere with obscurity, and in the Faroe Islands the ground was everywhere covered with particles of sand and pumice. The great earthquake in Calabria which occurred in the same year—the luminous meteors observed in England, Holland, and various parts of the continent-the fog which covered Europe from north to south, rising above the summits of its highest mountains, and continuing upwards of a month-render 1783 one of the most remarkable years of modern times, and drew from Cowper the Expostulation in his "Task :".

"Fires from beneath, and meteors from above,

Portentous, unexampled, unexplained,

Have kindled beacons in the skies; and the old
And crazy earth has had her shaking fits
More frequent, and foregone her usual rest.
Is it a time to wrangle, when the props
And pillars of our planet seem to fail,
And nature, with a dim and sickly eye,
To wait the close of all?"

Such was the destruction of pasturage, corn-fields, and property in Iceland, caused by its physical convulsions at this period, as to bring upon its inhabitants the additional miseries of famine, so that in the short space of two years, not fewer than 9,336 human beings, 28,000 horses, 11,461 head of cattle, and 190,488 sheep perished on the island.

The most recent instance of new formations of this class, which excited extraordinary interest from its locality, occurred off the coast of Sicily in the year 1831. The first notice of it was published in the following terms, in the Messager des Chambres :"Towards 11 o'clock on the 10th of July, 1831, Captain John Corrao, commander of the brig Thérésine, going from Trapani to Girgenti, in Sicily, at the distance of about twenty miles from Cape St. Mark, perceived at the distance of a gun-shot a mass of water, which rose 60 feet above the level of the sea, and presented a circumference of nearly 400 fathoms; a smoke proceeded from it, exhaling an odour of sulphur. The preceding day, in the Gulf of Trois Fontaines (Three Fountains) he had seen a great quantity of dead fish and of black matter floating on the water, and he heard a noise like that of thunder, which the captain attributed to a volcanic eruption. He continued his voyage to Girgenti; and all the time that he was occupied in lading his ship, he saw a thick smoke rise incessantly from the same point, before which he arrived on the 16th, on his return from Girgenti. A new spectacle was then presented to him, namely, a tract of land, of the same circumference as that of the mass of water which he had observed on his first voyage. This island, which we shall call Corrao, from the name of him who saw it formed, is elevated twelve feet above the level of the sea; it has in the middle a kind of plain, and the crater of a volcano, whence a burning lava is seen to

proceed during the night. The island is bordered by a girdle of smoke. The sounding all around the island gives a depth of 100 fathoms. The lat. 37° 6' N., and long.

Hotham Island.

10° 26' E. from the meridian of Paris." Dr. Turnbull Christie, writing to Professor Jameson from Malta, July 23., observes: "It would appear that the volcano commenced on the 11th instant, when it was seen by the master of a small vessel sailing towards Terra Nova, who describes it as having had the appearance of a large rugged island com

ing up and falling with force back into the sea, so that the sea flew up to a great height, and fell down in the form of foam. This was seen to be repeated at short intervals, for nearly two hours. The masters of two small vessels, one from Sardinia, and the other from Palermo, state:- On the 13th instant, about 2 o'clock, P. M., being between Sciacca and Pantellaria, 25 miles southward of Sciacca, we discovered three columns of smoke, apparently issuing from the sea. On approaching it we heard a great noise, like the rolling of the wheels of a steam-vessel.' The Admiral upon the Mediterranean station, Sir H. Hotham, immediately despatched an officer to examine and ascertain the exact position of the new volcanic island, which was named Hotham Island in honour of the commander, and the following interesting particulars were reported :"On the 18th of July, 1831, at 4 P. M., the town of Marsala bearing by compass E. half N., nine miles, I observed from on board His Majesty's sloop Rapid, under my command, a highly irregular column of very white smoke or steam, bearing S. by E. I steered for it, and continued to do so till 8 h. 15 m. P. M., 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 daylight, that I might ascertain its nature and exact position. During the night the changes from white to black, with flashes, and the eruption of fire, continued at irregular intervals, varying from half an hour to an hour. At daylight I again steered towards it, and about 5 A. M., when the smoke had for a moment cleared away at the base, I saw a small hillock of a dark colour, a few feet above the sea. This was soon hidden again, and was only visible through the smoke at intervals between the more violent eruptions.

"The volcano was in a constant state of activity, and appeared to be discharging dust and stones, with vast volumes of steam. At 7 h. 30 m. the rushing noise of the erup

tions was heard. At 9, being distant from it about two miles, and the water being much discoloured with dark objects at the surface in various places, I hove to, and went in a boat to sound round and examine it. I rowed towards it, keeping on the weather-side, and sounding, but got no bottom till within twenty yards of the western side, where I had eighteen fathoms, soft bottom; this was the only sounding obtained, except from the brig, one mile true north from the centre of the island, where the depth was 130 fathoms, soft dark brown mud. The crater (for it was now evident that such was its form) seemed to be composed of fine cinders and mud of a dark brown colour; within it was to be seen, in the intervals between the eruptions, a mixture of muddy water, steam, and cinders, dashing up and down, and occasionally running into the sea, over the edge of the crater, which I found, on rowing round, to be broken down to the level of the sea, on the W. S. W. side, for the space of ten or twelve yards. Here I obtained a better view of the interior, which appeared to be filled with muddy water, violently agitated, from which showers of hot stones or cinders were constantly shooting up a few yards, and falling into it again; but the great quantity of steam that constantly rose from it prevented my seeing the whole crater.

"A considerable stream of muddy water flowed outward through the opening, and, mingling with that of the sea, caused the discolouration that had been observed before. I could not approach near enough to observe its temperature; but that of the sea, within ten or twelve yards of it, was only one degree higher than the average; and to leeward of the island, in the direction of the current (which ran to the eastward), no difference could be perceived, even where the water was most discoloured; however, as a 'mirage' played above it near its source, it was probably hot there. The dark objects on the surface of the sea proved to be patches of small floating cinders. The island or crater appeared to be seventy or eighty yards in its external diameter, and the lip as thin as it could be consistent with its height, which might be twenty feet above the sea in the highest, and six feet in the lowest part, leaving the rest for the diameter of the area within. These details could only be observed in the intervals between the great eruptions, some of which I witnessed from the boat. No words can describe their sublime grandeur. Their progress was generally as follows:-. - After the volcano had emitted for some time its usual quantities of white steam, suddenly the whole aperture was filled with an enormous mass of hot cinders and dust, rushing upwards to the height of some hundred feet with a loud roaring noise, then falling into the sea on all sides with a still louder noise, arising in part, perhaps, from the formation of prodigious quantities of steam which instantly took place. The steam was at first of a brown colour, having embodied a great deal of dust; as it rose it gradually recovered its pure white colour, depositing the dust in the shape of a shower of muddy rain. While this was being accomplished, renewed eruptions of hot cinders and dust were quickly succeeding each other, while forked lightning, accompanied by rattling thunder, darted about in all directions within the column, now darkened with dust and greatly increased in volume, and distorted by sudden gusts and whirlwinds. The latter were most frequent on the lee side, where they often made imperfect water-spouts of curious shapes. On one occasion some of the steam reached the boat; it smelt a little of sulphur, and the mud it left became a gritty, sparkling, dark brown powder when dry. None of the stones or cinders thrown out appeared more than half a foot in diameter, and most of them much smaller. "From the time when the volcano was first seen till after I left it, the barometer did not fall or rise; the sympiesometer underwent frequent but not important changes; and the temperature of the sea did not bespeak any unusual influence. After sunset, on the 18th, soundings were tried for every hour, to the average depth of eighty fathoms; no bottom. The wind was N. W.; the weather was serene. On the forenoon of the 19th, with the

centre of the volcano bearing by the compass S. by W. W., one mile distant, good sights, for the chronometer gave longitude 12° 41' E.; and at noon on the same day, when it bore W. by N. N. by compass, the meridian altitude of the sun gave the latitude 37° 7' 30" N.; an amplitude of the sun the same morning gave the variation of 1 point westerly. It is worthy of remark, that on the 28th of June last, at 9h. 30m. P. M., when passing near the same spot in company with the Britannia, several shocks of an earthquake were felt in both ships."

These records of modern change and convulsion are highly instructive; and may be regarded as relating the story of many formations which have marked the superficies of the globe for ages, transpiring before history commenced its annals, or physical phenomena had any intelligent human witness. Whole groups of islands bear evident marks of having been formed by volcanic activity, consisting either wholly of an accumulation of volcanic substances, or in connection with marine strata upheaved from the bottom of the sea. A great number of solitary islets likewise display the same character, and have been built up by the occurrence of violent catastrophes. The South Atlantic presents a

remarkable example of this class in Ascension Island, one of the most isolated solid sites above the waves of the ocean, 1450 miles from the coast of Africa, 685 from St. Helena, and 520 from the nearest particle of visible land, the island of St. Matthew. Its shore exhibits black nitrous lava. Its surface presents rugged conical hills of different kinds of lava, some with perfect craters, scoriæ, pumice, and other volcanic products being everywhere strewed in large quantities. Not a shrub was to be seen upon its first discovery on Ascension-day, in 1501, by João de Nova Galego, and the only vegetation consisted of some coarse grasses and ferns. There can be little doubt respecting the events denoted by the physical characteristics of this island. Probably the ocean here once rolled its waters unobstructed by any visible land, when, at some era in the past which no chronicle has marked, a grand revolution took place, from the action of that power which in recent times has invaded the dominion of the sea, and reared rocky edifices beyond the reach of its waves. The disturbing cause at length expended its energy, as it has done with reference to the Peak of Teneriffe, and the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne, and an age of tranquillity ensued, marked by the ordinarily gradual and quiet operations of nature. Each of the existing continents furnishes innumerable proofs of having undergone similar grand