The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-10-18 00:00:00

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MOUNT VESUVIUS.

Nettie, Seri*. Seri*. 21.—The recent eruption *ill
wieke the year 18W an epoch in the annals or Ye,
satitts, on account of the manner in which it be-
gan, and the disasters it has produced.
' It is considered as a very extraordinary cireum.
stance, that this eruption was not preceded by the
usual indications : every convulsion of Vesavies bE-
ing previously annotintsil by the drying up of the
wells of Naples. This: phenomenon did not like
place nn this occasion, and to the great surptiSe Qf
the inhabitants, Vesiiiiiii began to emit flames Oti
the night of the 10th of September. •
On the morning of the 11th, the fame becime
more intense, and the laii began to now from the
east and soeth.east sides of the mountain. Tn.
wards evening the conflagritioe increased,. eat
-about twilight twrt grand streams of fire were semi
to flow down tic ridge of the volcano: night pro'.
duced no change in this state of things.
On tke morning of the 12th, a hullo* sound wag
heard, and has alerays'lveen increasing; the fire and
smykc have equally augmented Id intensity, and to..
wards evening the horizon was obscured. Tito
breeze, usual in these parts, having blown from the
south.east, dissipated the accumulated Cloud.. 'rho
mountain continued to vomit lava and a dense
smoke, which, even at a distance, was strongly se):
plweeous;. the hollow noise in the Sides of the
mountain .continued to increase.
Cuiious to witness as near as possible ntte of the
most astonishing phenomeet of nature, and forget.
flog the misfortune of Pliny, I set out front Najdctli
and at eight in the evening I teachedrortiCi. Fcord
thence to the summit, of 'the Mountain the road is
lung and difficult. . About half way there is a her-
mitage, which has long served for refuge and shelter
' to the traveller; a guud hermit has there liked his
residence, and takes care to furnish, fur a moderate
sett:, refreshments, which, to the fatigued tratelleti
are worth their weight in pld. The environi. of
i thisliirtnitage produce the famous wine called La:.
1 elirlsatio ()Irian. From the hermitage to the foot
Lofilie cave, there is a long quarter of a like° of
rook.. tolerably g,mil; but in order to reach trout
thence the crater) it is necessary to climb a motto.;
Sails of eindeis, where, at every step, you sink up
to the.mid,leg. it took my companions) myself,
•ati4 our guides, two. hours to make thiS ascent ;
Mitt it was already midnight when we reached the
'orator.

The fire of the Volcano served us .for a torch
the noise had totally ceased for two hours ; the
Alanies hal also considerably decreased : thete cit.
cumstances augmented our security, and oupplied
ess with the 'measure' confidence in traversing such
iilangeroui ground. We approached as near as the
hunt would permit, and we set fire td the Stiehl of
1 our guides in the lava, which slowly tee .ihrouglt
fr the holloe eof theceatee. The surface of tide 01.4.
tami.a Atter hietly reeeinbles metal in a state of
holdall ; hut as itllnus if Caine!i a kind of scum,
which hardens is it cool'', .esid then forms masses of
souri), which dash against each other, end roll all
lon lire,' with noise, to the foot of the tuountaitt.--
!Strong fumes of sulphuric acid gas arise in ,abun.
dance from theidlioilli, 'and by their enustie and
,penetrating qiiielifihe tvettler respirakthedifhialt. ..
.{* We sconce to be pretty secure id. this -situation,
and were. far. from thinking bferetiriug, when 41
frightful explosion, which launched into the air
fregmenes of burning rocks to the distance of more
than 100 Wises, reminded-us of the danger to whirl*
we were explesed. Nene of us hesitated a moment
in embraeing a retreat, and in -five minutes we
cleared in our &sun. t a space of ground Which we
had taken teo hours to climb,
We had not reached the hermitage before a noise
il mere friehtful teats ever was heard ; and the Yoh-
cane, in all its fury, began to launch a mass equal
Ito some thousand cart.lnads of stones, and frig.
meets 9f burning rucks, with a projectile forte
l which it would be difficult to calculate. As the prp.
jection was vertical, almost the whole of this burn-
ing mass fell. back aktin into the mouth of the Vole
cane, which vomited it forth anew to receive.it
again, with the exception of some fragment, which
I flew off, to fall at a distance, and alarm the inceti.
sitive spectator, Who avoided them ; as, on public
!Irises, we avoid the handle of the rockets, in our
iire.works. '
The 13th commenced with nearly the same ap.
pearances as those of the preceding day. The Vol.
cano was tranquil, and the lava ran slowly in the
channels which it had
,formed during the night ;
but at four in the afternoon, afriglitftil and coati.
!wed noise, accomPanied with frequent explosions,
• announced a new eruption ; the shacks of the Vol-
cano were so violent, that at Fort de le'liEuf, built
upon a rock, where I. Oen was, at the distance of
near four leagues, I felt retaliations similar to those
produced by an earthquake.
A hoet 3 o'clock the ertutillon commenced, and
continued during the greaterpart of the night. This
time the burning.matter flowed gown all tee skies of
the mountain, with a force hitherto. unprecedented ;
all Vesevitts was on lire, and the lata has caused
the greatest losses-; houses and, 'whole csfstes have
been overt% helmet!, and at this day fernlike in tears
and redeem! to despair search in vain tire' the in-
heritance Of their ancestors, boiled under the de:
straying levee ... . . .
A t 10 at night, the hermitage was no longer tic.
cessiele ; a river of fire had obstructed !the road.
Thedistriets situated on the soelh.east quarter of
the mountain had still moreeo suffer. . Mount Yee
SilVitlS was no longer any thing but one vast flame,
awl the seiman at a peat distance might contera-
plafe, at hist leikse, this terrific Illumination of
oaten: sec.

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