Sometimes these fires burst forth from the crater of the volcano with
tremendous force. The smoke becomes thick and black, and lurid flames
shoot up to a height of hundreds of feet, making a scene of amazing
grandeur.
[Illustration]
With the flames there are thrown out stones, ashes, and streams of
melted rock, called lava. This lava flows down the sides of the
mountain, and, being red-hot, destroys every thing with which it comes
in contact. At such times, a volcano is said to be in eruption.
A volcanic eruption is generally preceded by low, rumbling sounds, and
trembling of the earth's surface. Then follows greater activity of the
volcano, from which dense volumes of smoke and steam issue, and fire and
molten lava make their appearance.
Such is the force of some of these eruptions, that large rocks have been
hurled to great distances from the crater, and towns and cities have
been buried under a vast covering of ashes and lava.
The quantity of lava and ashes which sometimes escapes from volcanoes
during an eruption, is almost beyond comprehension.
In 1772, a volcano in the island of Java, threw out ashes and cinders
that covered the ground fifty feet deep, for a distance of seven miles
all around the mountain.
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