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It is possible to enter only in calm weather, or the boat would be stoved in against the rocky archway. On a promontory to larboard appear the white houses and olive gardens of beautiful Sorrento, and then we steer out into the turquoise blue waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. To the south the rocky island of Stromboli rises from the waves with its ever-burning volcano, like a beacon.
Stromboli took no notice of the direct imputation. He had taken a very small and fine handkerchief from his sporran and was carefully tucking it into his collar with some idea of protecting his throat. When this was done his admiration for his colleague broke out again without the slightest warning. 'You were superb, magnificent, surpassing! he cried.
In the islands of that sea, however there are no less than six volcanoes: namely, Stromboli, and Vulcano, in the Lipari Islands; Etna, in Sicily; Graham's Isle, a submarine volcano, off the Sicilian coast; and Santorin and Nisyros, in the Aegean Sea.
The first of these is the state of permanent eruption, as in case of the volcano of Stromboli in the Mediterranean. This state is not a dangerous one, since the steam, escaping continually, acts as a safety valve. The second stage is one of milder activity with an occasional somewhat violent eruption; this is apt to be dangerous, though not often very greatly so.
It is a singular fact in this connection that the volcano of Stromboli, though situated between these two cones, is in a state of almost incessant activity. This probably indicates that the last-named vent derives its vapours from another level in the earth than the greater cones. In this regard volcanoes probably behave like springs, of which, indeed, they may be regarded as a group.
The community, especially the seafaring part of it, were convinced that his wickedness had been so great that even the devil refused to have anything to do with him in a respectable country. He was forthwith passed on to Stromboli to assist the Baker in his arduous task of keeping the fires going, and for the purpose of confirming the sailors' belief in the law of retribution.
"Oh, Peter, Peter," I exclaimed, "what is the matter? Surely the world has caught fire, and we shall all be destroyed!" "No fear of that just yet, lad," he answered, laughing. "That's only a burning island, which is called Stromboli.
The crater of Stromboli is situated, not at the apex of the cone, but at a distance of 1000 feet below it. The explosions of steam, accompanied by the roaring as of a smelting furnace, or of a railway engine when blowing off its steam, are said by Judd to take place at very irregular intervals of time, "varying from less than one minute to twenty minutes, or even more."
Scarcely had these manifestations ceased at Ustica, than Vesuvius began to show signs of increased activity; the supplies in the wells on the mountain sides began to fail, and there was observed a strong taste of sulphur in the drinking water; whilst—most dreaded phenomenon of all—the ever-active crater of Stromboli, that lies midway between Naples and Messina, suddenly lapsed into quiescence.
We fondly expected to pass the Messina Straits by daylight, and to cast another glance upon old Etna, Scylla and Charybdis, the Liparis and Stromboli. And all looked well, as about noon we were abreast of Cape Spartivento, the 'Split-wind' which divides the mild northers and southers of the Straits from the raw Boras and rotting Sciroccos of the Adriatic.
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