Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-07-08
The Eruption of Noun; Vesuvius.

!
NAPLES, Jane 5, 1858.
Vesuvius is still blazing away, and since
| wrote the lava has made steady progress;
down the mountain. Sometimes on one
point it has stopped, but greater impetu:
has then been given to the fluid On another
point; and again the apparently tranquil
mount has opened up again. There is TO
apparent evidence, therefore, as yet, of a
disposition TO stop: on the contrary, il
seems TO be gorged with the matter which
it throws out from all directions. Before
give any results of my own observation s
to its actual state, let me go SO far back as
Tuesday, when wrote. Twosireams were
then lowing slowly from the North, fed by
FIVE mouths; one went toward "fosso della
sVettura, and tt1s other to the Essso Grands.
Another stream, fed by q u,satt which
opened on the South side, cut off the old
road leading to the Hermitage, The stream
destroyed many smsl portions Of land, and
it was feared very early in the week that
the new rOad to the Observatory would have
been intercepted. Another fact TO be no.
ticed is that the upper part of the crater, to
the depth Of 200 palms, has fallen in, in
consequence, perhaps, of the new mouths
which have been opened in the district of
Ottajano. The lava, which was flowing
through Fosso della Vetrana, passed into
the Fosso Faraone, while that on the South
side entered the Fosso Grande, stopping
cho nd than re
course so rapidly that in the space of two
hours it advanced forty PAGES. On Tuesday
the lava, which had passed the Fosso
Grande, divided into two streams, one Of
which advanced on the road leading to the
Observatory, thus preventing the advance
of carriages to that point. The other stream
destroyed some cultivated ground, and is
still flowing. Reserving for later insert ion
the reports of the eruption in the interval
from Wednesday to the present moment,
which the Government has net yet publish
ed, give my own impression of what is
passing at this moment. have just re-
turned from Resina, and the stream is
an hours distance from the city, that is to
say. could crawl uD to it in an hour in a
one horse carriage. Its advance, however,
is SO capricious, that Il is impossible to say
what amount OF danger exists for this de-
voted spot: were the streams to unite and
flow down without diverging from their
present path danger there would be. II has
mountain, and the eye would say that it
threatens many others-it seems to be roll
ing down upon them. Much land has been
destroyed, and one poor woman, who was
reduced to poverty, was only prevented
from throwing herself into the lava by the
guide Vincenzo Cozzolino LAYING hold oi
her BY the arm. Most who have suffered as
yet are smail peopFietors, ana mary sim
liar portions of land are menaced.
The spectacle from Naples is as grand as
it can be. Vesuvus is girdIed with fire
and from this girdie seem to drop down
Jewels of the utmost briliancy AT times
one spot becomes much more brilliant than
the others, and then dense cloudrises up;
there has been either fresh gush of lava
or mass has fallen off from the blaekenet
exterior. In the intervals between the
streams appear thousand little lights, a:
though they were glow worms, These are
the torches which visitors carry with them,
but the journey is now very limited. Swiss
guards are on the mountain, and it is i'm
possible to get to the H Hermitage, Pamicri
the Director of the Observatory. has fed
and the instruments are removed, for de.
struction is reateDed to it by the stream
at the back which is flowing into the Fossc
di Faraone. So high is it rising that very
little more will send it over the Observa-
tory. From Resina to Pompeii the moun
tain makes no sign-ihat is: no mouth has
opened in the side. | went round it or
Thursday, and people were getting in thei
fruit, and buying and selling within sbor
distance of the lava which was destroying
the property of their friends, seemingly a.
secure as though they live hundred miles
from Vesui:us, and yet crater may bt
formed in q, moment in any quarter, for the
.3lntaa i5in lef -. rom pomPeii rount
to Ultajano there is m IRE activity; the law
has destroyed some woods belonging to tht
prince OF that name, though it has not ad
vanced further. Continuing the circle, one
cones to what appears from Naples to bt
the left extremity of the gridle. Here, tn,
stream coming down by the Fosso di Favamt
has taken the direction of the stream o
! 1856, which flowed down toward the village
of Massa di Romma, Ssu Sebastiano ant
Pollena. The right extremity of the gridl'
terminates above Rasino, and appears t,
threaten it inevitably, s.Ssssh efforts wer,
being made to divert its course in some O
the deep valleys with which the mountain
is traversed. Some intelligent inhabitant
told me that they aPprehended no danger
as the stream divided itself into so man,
branches, flowing over Old lava. II has
however, destroyed much property, and it i
a fearful thought that wtkinHn hour $ dist
ance an enemy as implacabe and irresist,
bic as fate is hurryiig down--where,
caprice or slight bend in the mountain, o
hill of stones, may determine.
! Meanwhile the scene at night remind
one Of a noisy, crowded fair. On Tuesda'
night, said one OF the guides, there mus
have been 10000 or so, 900 persons up tn
mountain. Allowing for exagger'tion, q
inability to calculate, still there must hav
been an immense number of people wh
were moi Composed of merely curious stran
gers, but of all the rag tag and bob-tail Q
Naples. As it was the vigil ,f Corpu
Christi, great many went up in all pro
liability for spree. The ofiicia! journal {
last night, continuing its reports of yesu
vius, says that the lava which appeared t