Smyrna times., 1862-02-06
The Eruption of Vesuyius.
Destruction ofaC CT.

NAPLES, Dec. 29.-The destruction of civ
which numbered $4,000 inhabitants is so sturl
llAg fact that | trust that shall not uearv
you by sending some statistics which have
this week gathered on the spot. Covered with
snow, vomiting ashes still like ten.borsp
power factory chimney, with a ruined CITY lylno
at It's feet, such is the spectacle which Vesuvlu,
at this moment presents. Unable 10 restrain
my curiosity to know what was passing behind
the clouds OF ashes which inteTveued between
us and the mountaln, went down again on
Tuesday last, and directed myself to the com.
mttee who had been sitting in performance
since the Sth inst. The municipal building.
fine old historical edGce of the time Of lh,,
Arragons, had been destroyed, so that the cum.
mlttee was sitting In suppressed monastery
on tho outskirts of the town, and not on the
bed OF old lava. The clolsters and The STAIRS
were filled with squalId misery wh ch had
come there for rolIef, and the Syndic and
his coadJulors, to whose courtesy | am much
indebted, gave me the following Information:
Out Of population Of 81 900, 5000 are fvcl.
tIes. Between SO and 90 houses have a,ready
fallen, $50 are falling, the rest are more or less
injured. Out Of III churches four only are un-
Injured; but there is another !earfsl source OF
danger-ths sui phureOns eXha halaiions, which
are emitted IN every direction, and which rcn
der houses in other respects comparatively safe.
uninhsblable. By these exbalations Eve or
SIX persons, and all the animals, such as cats.
d0gs, mice aad birds, and the fishes in the sea.
have already beeA killed. In fact, two thirds
of the city have been destroyed. The comm t.
tee begged me 10 appeal to the British public
in their behalf at least to Italians resident in
England, and then sent two of their members
TO accompany me again over the city. | must
conhns myself TO such new features as have
mt yet described, aud they are of great iHter-
est. My companion took me through long
lane, on either side Of which the houses were
on The eve Of falling, down to an orange garden
belonging to one of them, at the furtherst ex.
tremIty of which gaped crater 90 feet wide
and as many deep. Planks were thrown acruss;
and getting upon them looked in and ga W the
walls Of church which had been DESTROYED in
1898, graves which had given up their dead
for the skeletons had been removed as soon as
dscOvCred-and the froseoed walls of the in
ner chamber of somO house. The smell Of
sulphur was here strong, aRd yet stronger, al.
most lnsutferable, in the streets Through which
| afterwards passed. Dead animals Law here
and there. and amidst these sigRs of mortality
aud sig u posts OF danger. which mat the eve at
every turn, while the soil was still heavng be.
meath our feet, while VesuVius was throwing
out more Voehtiy than ever, and when at mid.
night, oBly the poor who had returned had fed
from their houses, alarmed by another shock,
| met some persons coming in with their house.
hold goods os their back. A few steps brought
me to the sea, which was boiling furiously for
some distance like q cauldreu, not the effec',
as | thought at first, Of springs of fresh water
gushing up, bat of volcanic action, and the
smell Of the gases escaping was SO intense that