On Thursday we cannot say for certain whether the eruption
is abating or increasing, but we fear that the disaster may equal that of 1911. The showers of cinders and stones are carried for many miles, and the terrifying explosions continue under a sky which is black by day and red by night. The peasants and vine-growers, who have become accustomed by long familiarity to display a certain phlegm in the mighty presence of Etna, are with difficulty persuaded to leave their homes. By Thursday morning the lava stream had reached a width of over a mile with a depth of thirty feet. The town of Lingua- glossa is surrounded. The King of Italy has gone to the scene of the disaster, and the organizations which spring to life in Italy when there are eruptions and earthquakes are hastily collecting relief funds.
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