Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-01-31
NAPLES, Esbuaru Il. 1884.

Faithfully, yours CHARLES Brooks.
NAPLES, Fsbuary IA, 1884.
Yesterday, in company with three ladies and
one gentleman--all Jews--I ascended Mount
vesuvius. At 12 o'clock left Naples with
these intelligent and interesting companions
driving ouer Herculaneum and stopping at Re-
sina, at the house of " Salvatore Madonna, the
celebrated Cicerone Of the mountain No SOON
er had we entered his house than 10! rush Of
mules and donkeys filled his yard, each owner
clamorously entreating us to select his as the
best So closely had they crowded round the
door, that nothing but their heads and saddles
could be seen. Never did flock of sheep in
Brighton stalls stand closer. We told our CT
cerone to provide every accommodation, and
free us from these opportunities. Every bar
gain in this region seems to be a quarrel
Girt and road-ready and the five best ami
mails having been selected, we were all en- route
with commendable despatch, each owner going
with his animal to apply the cruel stimulus Of
blows, according to the bribes of the rider
Marching in single file, we made quite a show
for we were thirty-six persons in all--twelve
servants and porters-and twenty-fo men for
the ladies' A soldier, with a loaded rife, was
all the guard we needed. Accompanied and
sometimes surrounded by this ragged retinue,
numbering the English language and also the
Italian, we Immediately left the street, opposite
Fontana di Resina, and struck into the path
which ends at the crater The road for mile
was wide, though filed with broken lava, much
resembling the refuse deposits which black
smiths throw out of their forges The dust
the fields, the walls, everything was lava. The
ascent for two miles was about as steep as Park
street, in Boston.
On each side of this road were vineyards,
extending for miles, and showing remarkable
luxuriance Here is produced that far-famed
wine, "Lachrym@ Christin Tears of Christi
asked vine dresser, who was among vines
which he had planted upon the lava of recent
irruption, how he dared to live and plant in
such place. He answered, "Pve never been
killed yet; and if my farm is not covered with
liquid lava oftener than once in seven years
can do better here than others down the noun
tain" Having seven miles to ride on mules
and donkeys, that never trot we hurried their
walk and began to come to some ascents so
precipitous that found it labor to keep upon
my saddle. The sure-footedness of the ass is
proverbial, and it surprised us continually; for
he carried us safely over crags and by the edge
of precpices, at the sight of which my blood
rushed in fevers through my veins. All that he
asks of you is to sit quietly and let him alone
| threw the reins down, and wished well to my
waywise Longears At the end of two miles
the vineyards ceased and the track narrowed
We came soon to deep ravines, with walls of
lava from fifty to one hundred feet high, push
ing out in every rregularity of strata and queer
ness of angle. Now we paced the edge of a
mountain steep, and now, in ten minutes after
wards, sailed forth upon the top of a narrow
bank, in view of half the surrounding country.
Our path was SO winding that we seldom saw
the whole of our party. We liked Salvatore
much, for he watched us as closely as the sher-
iff does the criminals he is leading to prison
Half way up the mountain, sat on lava, amid
thousands of its dark and frowning acres,
stands the lava Hermitage, small two-storied
house, whose whitewashed exterior made it
look from distance like lump of chalk on a
heap of coal. Here we must rest for half an
hour. We went to the second story, and there
found large room and the book in which each
traveller writes his name and something more.
A knd-hearted monk served us with bread,
butter, grapes, and genuine "Lachryma Chris
IT," Twas curious to see how my Jewish friends
would manage to take, from the hands of a
Christian professor: wine bearing such name.
They despatched a bottle very quickly. and
dohCu Ho uucSeluho loI COISCltHCC sake,
After leaving the Hermitage the way be-
came more steep and ragged. We soon came
to the hills made by the lavafof 1882. The
lava laid in ridges, and something like wind
rows, as if it had been rolled up as the sea
rolls its waves, each wave coming a little short
Of the last, and there stopped and petrifed.
Acres OF these appearances presented them
selves; then succeeded small tumu evidently
hnxta H. e - \ n
ing ocean within. Over aside, and around
these angular and bristly heaps, our indistinct
path laid. In some places the lava seems to
have been cooled at the moment when the force
below had lifted it to its highest point This
lava is as hard as the cast-off clinkers of a
blacksmiths furnace The lava mixed with
nchhlns IL snftnr the hnneucnnh is snftcr still