ON the night of Sunday, May 25, loud bellowings were heard by the dwellers on the northern slopes of Etna. Towards the morning of the 26th these increased, and about midday a dense cloud of smoke was seen to issue from the side of the mountain below the great crater, apparently half way between Randazzo and Linguaglossa. This cloud increased, and on the 27th the mountain was rendered invisible, and an effect like that of an eclipse resulted. A rain of fine black ash, “like powdered emery,” fell for miles around, and was so thick that Capo di Schiso could not be seen from Taormina, a distance of two miles. This black rain continued all day, accompanied by thundering noises from the mountain. No exact information could be procured concerning the position, of the centre of disturbance, because no one could approach the new craters. During the night of the 27th the ashes continued to fall, and “huge fires could be seen looming through the black clouds”—no doubt the reflection of the molten lava on the smoke above it. It was reported in Piedemonte, a village on the north-east flanks of Etna, that three craters about a mile apart had opened at the points of a triangle, about six miles above Passo Pisciaro, a posting station nearly midway between Randazzo and Linguaglossa. Lava was said to be flowing in a valley to the north of the Val del Bove. On the 28th a great stream of lava was seen from Taormina to be descending the mountain in the direction of Randazzo, “while from the new craters great balls of fire were thrown high in the air, and burst into showers of fire like gigantic rockets, accompanied by thundering explosions.” On May 29 the lava was still flowing, but the shower of ash was diminished. The facts, as above stated, were witnessed by an Englishman living in Taormina, 800 feet above the sea, at the north-eastern termination of the flanks of Etna, about fifteen geographical miles from the new craters.