The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-07 00:00:00

GR&AT ERUPTION (IF VESUVIUS.

NAPLES, May 28.—A great eruption of Vesu-
vius took place during the last night. For several
dtys past prognostics, familiar to the people of this
country, though slightly appreciated by the scien-
tific, have given rise to forebodings of a great
cat is, rophe. Slight earthquake shocks in the Fur-
rounding country have been frequent. On Monday
morninx, in particular, a shock took place which
was sensibly felt in Naples. It extended along the
line of country from Naples to Salerno, skirting
Vesuvius, and thence in the direction of a straight
line drawn from Salerno through Potenza, its in-
tensity filer. Ising apparently with its distance from
Naples.

In the afternoon of ye-terday Vesuvius presented
remarkable appearances, which, from their corre-
spondence with those teat preceded many former
eruptions, left little doubt that they must be the
precursors and harbingers of a like phenomenon f
more than common intensity. The result fully
verified these anticipations.
Th ise who are familiar with the structure of
Vesuvius will remember that the mr untain consists
of two peaks, the larger or southern being Vesuvius,
properly so called, crested with the great and Neel:-
known crater ; and the lesser or northern being
that called the Monte Somma. Between these
peaks intervenes a deep, wide valley, called the
At•io del Cavallo, surrounded by a semi-circular
wall of considerable height, formed by she con•inu-
nice of a part of the Monte Somma. This semi-
circular cavity is open to the west, and may be con-
sidered, therefore, as looking over the bay directly
towards the heights of Posilipo. It may be Iv( 1l
here to observe that, the station from which the
ph, nemesia wes seen was a villa on the heights of
Posilipo, looking directly towards the mountain.
In the afterno el, for some hours before sunset,
a thick cloud was observed apparently to rise out
of the ground, and to cover the enttre extent of
the semi-circular valley of Attio, just described,
while a similar cloud inves' el the great crater. As
sunset approached the cloud collected over the
Atrio exeihite,l distinct traces of fire at its base,
where it rested in c wilh the ground. After
sunset, towards 8 o'clock, the spectacle bzcame gr a -
dually and awfully grand. The whole extent of the
Attic) del C tvallo assumed the app-arance of a vast
fu-gate, from which enormous volumes of vapour
arose, illuminate.! with a lurid red light, proce'ding
from the fire benea.h. The appearance was such
as might be ascribed to the effect of a mulitude of
snial craters, each sending forth flames and hot
steam, like those of the Solfatdra..

soon after 8 o'clock a broad stream of matter in
a stNte of igneous fusion issued from the side of the
Ati-io, directed towards the sea with an extremely
slow motion. It seeincd as if it would have passed
over the Meteorological Observatory al d the Her-
m•tage, but its movement in that direction did not
continue. Towards 9 o'clock the spectacle rapi ily
diminished in intensity, mil at that boor was
scarcely visible, but later it b oke forth with
gr.ater splendour than ever, and so cantinued
during the night.

In the morning the appearance presented was as
follows :—The valley of the Attio sent up, as on the
preceding evening, vast volumes of cloudy stem',
but the fire at the surface of the ground was not
visible, owing to the eff_ct of the daylight. The
stream of lava mention--d as issuing from the
sine of the valley is a!so visible to-day by the
vapour issuing from every part of it, and its extent
has teen grea•ly increases since last night. It fl-
lows a direction parallel to the ridge upon which
the Hermitage and Observatory stand, and the
lowest point of the line maike'i by the issue of
steirn and smoke is Low (LI o'clock) close braid°
the lierinitag-.

S aurday' May 29.
Yesterday afternoon the torrent of leva, which
was i&ling slowly prraljel to the ridge of the Her-
mitage, and Lot far from that bill(' ng, was diverted
by the accidents of the gruundiu a dii ecVon tram,-
vers t) i s f,rmer c :urze, and, running southward,
it folkwed the di, ect ion of deep ravine., in some of
which it was concealed from view. It broke, bow-
eo.r, into full view at length oil that part of the de-
clivity of Veguvitn proper which immediately over-
hangs Pe.rtici, and then took a course directly
d )wn the declivity, presenting itself as a stream of
considerable breadth, the form and movements of
which was distincly seen with the telescope.
During the afiernoon it cow inued its descent con-
stantly, Int slowly.

After stinse', and, towards 8 o'clock, when dark-
nfts began to set in a spectacle of sublim: grandeur
pr, seated itself, far exceeding that of last night.
What apieared then as a confused furnace of vast
extent, sending up a lucid smoke and vap3ur, was
now he'in with all its outlines with the utmost
distinctness, extending over the entire Atrio, be-
twettn the Sorruna and Vesuvious, as a group of
craters in full activity, vomiting liquid. fire.
Four of these craters, at least, could be duunctly
seen. The streams of lava issuing from them
could be seen flowing as liquid fire in various
tften interiecing each otaer and
formed
dat
coal-
escing. It is said ti:at a pot.l of. 1 eva. is f
one yo:nt from 80 to 100
as a mass of
entire valley of the Atrio appears .
fee: in Diameter. The:
fire, not uniformly vivid, but in numerou,shehgtirgelattt
patches, interected by streams of lay.a.. I
stretrn of lava descending the declivity towards
Portici has the magnificent appearance of a liver
of fire. Tue movement, however, is exceedingiy
slow. The spectacle is varied and auimatei in a
curious and iuterestiug manner by the numerous
visitors whom curiosity has attracted to the spot,
and who carry lanterns and other lights, which
are seen moving about in every direction in the
neighbourhood of the vast furnace of the Atrio, as.
well as along the borders of the stream of Lava de-
scending the mountain.

During tire whole of yesterday the iuh,bitants of
Vie houses and v liagei which lie in the direction of
the descending current of lava were seen carrying
off Op it foroitore and all moveables of value, even
to the doors of the houses and rho windows with
their " jal aisles." If the hva emitinutd its pre-
sent course to the Pea it would traverse the CAstella-
mare Railway, and destroy part of the town of
Portici, but the people here, who are familiar wi. h
these phenomena, say that such a catastrophe will
most probably be prevented by a ravine of great
depth and extent which is interposed between
Pottici and the foot of the declivity, and which
will receive the lava beforo it can arrive at the
town.

• Biding in the Newtown of Tain, died at the
DEATH or CENTENARIAN.—Last week, Janet Ross,
saTvnasnteeerodraige of 105, She was a native of the parish of
b, Suiherlandshire. During the last 40 years she
Creri,
the same room in flartfield-street, Tame.
Dr
in her eyesight., she retained her facia-
tie,' to op
the laar.—lnverness Courier.
!die/
a ir
flaing
COMMAND OF THE CHANNEL SQUADRON.—There is
now, we believe, no doubt a 4 t, the selection of Rear-
Admiral the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel as the Commander-
in-Chief of the Channel Squadron. Great fears were
entertained at one time that the command would he
given to a wort,-out officer, whose unpopularity with
smart young seamen is well known, and whose day is,
in fact, passed : and it is no small relief, therefore, to
hero that one of the most vigorous and at the same time
justly p polar admirals in the service is the officer cho-
sen. If men understand that they are to be kcpt at one
inces,aot routine of chill and gunnery, and gunnery and
dr 11, from Monday till Saturday night, it requires r o
very intirnste hno.,!edge of In to pry.lim that the
ships will, like the Isla lhorori,t_7ll, reelairi for months
with only Ow marines arid idlers on bner.j. Had the
lboraigl. Lean Llesiacil with a-popular captain, there
is no knowing what effect it might have bad upon the
unemployed sailor& It is strange how small a matter
will turn the current of l •
popu arity ; but the fact of a
ship's remaining half-manned for three or four months is
considered tantamcunt to an admissiiin that there is
something wrong about the ship or captain. It will be
seen how long thQ Orion, the ship destined to bear Sir
Henry Keppel's flag, take] in manning. If she is not
manned offhand we shall be greatly eurpr sed, and 'tibial
be inclined to accept it as an ill omen. Sir Henry is
well known to the best description of men we have an
the service. He is known as one full of fight, and he
humours "Jack's" predilections by despising and de-
nouncing humbug.
He will take care to have the aqua-
' dron which may be placed under his orders in• goo
fighting condition, and
-t will not be his fault .f the
crewed the sbips do not, in doe,,courae, become *earn-to
as well as gunners.— United Service e.