17 NOVEMBER 1928, Page 3

The eruption of Etna, which began on November 2nd, has

been unusually prolonged, and the toll of destruction is one of the heaviest on record. Catania has not been destroyed as in the great eruption of 1698, but several villages have been wiped out, and some of the most fertile land has been spoiled for all time. Mercifully the flow of the lava has been so gradual that the villagers have been able to escape. There were no violent explosions and showers of cinders such as smothered Pompeii. Photographs published in the newspapers show sightseers at close quarters watching the ruthlesi forward movement of the red hot walls of lava eating up houses and turning part of the beautiful slopes of the mountain into a horror of desolation.

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