An history of the wonderful things of nature set forth in ten severall classes wherein are contained I. The wonders of the heavens, II. Of the elements, III. Of meteors, IV. Of minerals, V. Of plants, VI. Of birds, VII. Of four-footed beasts, VIII. Of insects, and things wanting blood, IX. Of fishes, X. Of man / written by Johannes Jonstonus, and now rendred into English by a person of quality.

Artic. 3. Of Fire under the Earth.

I Said that fire was also in the waters; now I will shew that in the bowells of the earth fire is generated. When Claudius Nero was Emperour, fire was seen to come forth of the Earth, in the land of the Town of Colein, and it burnt the Fields, Villages, Houses; now because the matter of it was bituminous, and could be quenched nei∣ther by raine, nor River waters, nor by any other moisture, it was ex∣tinguished by Stones and old Garments. In Misena a Country of Ger∣many, a Mountain of Coles burns continually, the trenches falling down by degrees in the superficies, which if any man behold, they appear to be burning Furnaces. The fire kindles any thing neere to it, at four foot distance, but not put close to it. Agricol. de natur. effluent. ex terr. Vesuvius, also a Mountain in Campania, burned, when Titus Vespasianus, and Flavius Domitianus the seventh, were Consuls. First it cast out Stones from the top broken open; after that, it cast forth such Flames, that two Towns, Herculaneum, and Pompeti were set on fire; and it sent forth such thick smoak, that it obscured the Sun; and lastly it blew forth such a quantity of Ashes, that like snow it covered the Neighbour Country, which by force of winds was carryed into Afri∣ca, Aegypt, Syria; Dion. Cass. in Histor. When the Elder Pliny beheld this Fire, (the Younger in Epistol. ad Tacitum) the smoak so stopped his sharp artery, that his breath being intercepted, he was choaked, There is also a mountain of late in Campania, full of rises, from the time the fire was bred there, which burns and rores with∣in, and sends forth smoak in many places, and very hot brooks, the shore smoaks at the foot of the Mountain, the sand is hot, & the Sea boyles, Agricol, l. c. In the same place, there are many ditches co∣vered with sand, into which some that have viewed these things care∣lesly

have sunk in, and were stifled. This is in Europe. In India, there are no lesse burnings by fire. In Ciapotulan, a Province of the King∣dome of Mexico, a Mountain casts forth stones as big as houses, and those stones cast forth have flames of fire in them, and seem to burn, and are broke in pieces with a great noise; Petrus Alvarad. ad Cortesium. In the province Quahutemallan, of the same Country, two Mountaines with∣in two Leagues one of the other, vomit out fire, and tremble, Petrus Hispalens. p. 5. C. 23. In Peruacum also, out of the Mountain Na∣navata, the Fire flies out at many holes; and out of one, boyling water runs, of which salt is made. In the same Peruacum in the Town Mola∣ha••o fire is vomited forth, and ashes is cast out for many dayes, and covers many Towns. There is an Island next to great Java, in the middle of which land there burns a perpetuall fire Odoard. Barbosa. In the Island Del Moro, there is a Fire cast forth with such a noise, that it is equall to the loudest Cannon, and the darknesse is like Night. The Ashes so abound, that houses have sunk down under them, and Trees have been barren for three yeres, their boughs being lopt off, all places are fild with Ashes, and living Creatures destroyed with hunger and pestilence, also sweet waters have been changed into bit∣ter. Diat. Jesuita. Also there are concealed Fires, namely there, where the waters run forth, hot, warm, or sower, or where exhalati∣ons break forth, good or bad, and where places seem adust. Strab. in Geograph: There is a Country in Asia, which is called Adust, which is 500 furlongs long, and 50 broad, whether it should be called Misia or Meonia, saith Strabo. In this there grows no Tree but the Vine that brings forth burnt Wine, so excellent that none exceeds it. You may not think that those Fires stay only in one straight place, for they pass many miles under ground; Agricol. l. 4. de nat. Effl. c. 24. in Cam∣pania, from Cunae, thorough Baianum, Puteoli, and Naples. Also out of Campania they seem to come as far as the Islands, Aenaria, Vulcania, &c. Hence Pindarus elegantly faigned that the Gigant, Typ••o, being stricken with a Thunder-Bolt, lay buried under these places.