Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1842-06-30
IT 7 s @ d u IA A 81 z o
VISIT TO HERCULANEUM AND p0MpETI
EXTRACTS FROM DR.. MOTIFS TRAVELS.

[ did not omit, OF course, TO visit those two
great objects which no other part of the world
possesses, but Naples, and which are its great
est attraction to all travellers. | mean Hercu-
ianeum and Pompeii, those two ancient cities
OIL the Roman. era, which, after being over
whelmed by Vesuvins during the short but
memorable reign Of Titus, and Theoretically
scaled up, as it were, for 1900 years, as pre-
cious mementoes or medallions, that were to
convey to us the only fac sin,i1c of real life,
as II existed in that remote period, having been
with our own age discovered aud exhumed for
| we Went FIRST TO hcrculaneun,, that being
nearest o'the city of Naples, and, in fact. in
It's immediate environs. The town of POrtici
! stands upon the indurated black mass of lava,
which constltutes,so to speak, the sarcophagus
of Herculaneum. The lava in which this city
was entombed soon after the beginning of the
Christian era, Is of hard, rocky texture,
which makes 1t exceedingly difficult for the
laborers, though they have been at work for
many years, TO make much progress in their
excavations. 1t is believed by some that Her
culaneum was not so suddenly overwhelmed
as Pompeii, and not by lava properly SO call
ed; but by species of liquid mud, formed by
the CONCEALED ashes in the higher regions of
the atmosphere, thrown down in successive
deposites, and afterwards firmly consolidated.
For, If the first subsiratum, ct least, had been
red hotlava, the paintings discovered wouldnot
have been in such perfect preservation; though
1t appears that large portion Of the rolls of
paPyri, as the manuscript found have been
called, were SO charred as to resist nearly all
attempts, even those of Sir Humphrey Davy,
to decipher them. Herculaneum is believed
to have been a Greek city, and extremely an
clent. Ii is noticed as a curious coincidence,
that the depth Of the superintendent lava is
exactly 70 feet being the number of the year
Of Christ on which the fatal eruption occurred
which buried this city beneath it during the
reign Of Titus More remarkable and appal-
ing events were concentrated in the short
space Of two years and three months that COM
prised the reign Of this celebrated emperor
than occurred during any one century of the
Roman empire: While yet youth he razed
Jerusalem to the grouhd, and Tor this act was
honored within title of Caesar, and permitted to
} ride in the chariot by the side of his father
the Emperor Vcspasian; in triumphal pro-
cession through the streets of Rome. His gen.
eral, Agricola, discovered that Great Britain
was an island, and completed the conquest o
REQ OF Mount Vesuvlus, that overwhelmct
Herculaneum and Pompeii, and convused al
Campania with earthquakes, succeeded by
universal drought, famine, and pestilence, il
which 10000 persons died daily in Rome
A fire, also, broke out at Rome which destroy
; ed the Pantheon, the Capitolium, and Octavia
Library but nothing daunted by this he 500
, after completed, by aid of the 10000 captive
he caused to be brought from Jerusaletb, tn
magnificent amphitheatre, now called tn
Coliseum, begun by his father. Thus reigne
and died, i'm the midst of a short and tragi
; but drilling and brilliant everts; the Empere
Titus.
Youdcsccnd into ftercuianeum by torchligl
I, through dark; spiral passage which has bee
excavated in the town of Portici, and algl
upon the remains Of street in the ancient cit
; The building which has been most success
fully disinterred is an immense theatre, fro
j. which have been taken those two beautil
C equestrian statues which grace the entrance
y the museum at Naples.
+, While rambling about through that subte
rcanean city, we heard the noise of the Cd
! riagcs above; passing through the streets
- Portici, like the roaring of distant thunder.
D. is not probable that any great discoveries W
tic be made here, as the removal of the lava is
tended almost with as much difficulty as if
were mass Of solid metal as il contains,
truth, large quantity Of fused metallic mi