The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-04-03
NOTES Faon EUROPE.
NUMBER SEVEN.

We resume there and follow him IN his ex-
peditionizing in that locality, with that city
for his head quarters.
One Of the first excursions made after
coming, was to ascend Mt. Vesuvius, = moder.
atelv grand, isoluted mountain, few miles
to the South of the city, which still indicates
its distinguishing characteristics, by emitting
every few minutes, small feecy cloud Of
vapor or smoke. @
The ascent is mostly made on ponies or
donkies. There was magnificent carriage
road nearly to the cone; but it il now for the
most part buried, in some places hundreds
of feet deep by the scoria thrown out in sixty
one. The ride by cab or carriage to REGINA
is about five miles, built up all the way
From there YOU take pony, or dondey, and
a guide who goes on foot, holding on to the
donkeys tail for assistance in ascending the
mountain. The first mile is through mar.
row alley about six feet wide, and crooked
as a rams horn, walled up on both sides with
houses, or garden walls, twelve to eighteen
feet high. Close to the towns and cities, the
gardens and farms are protected by high stone
walls but in the country proper, there are no
fences whatever. save occasionally silght
ditch and embankment along the roadside
Getting beyond these walls, we have two or
three miles OF vineyards, and orange, lemons,
fig and olive orchards. The vines here are
cultivated more as our are, than in France
They seem to allow one or Two shoots from
the main vine to grow each year quite long,
to be bearers the next year, after which they
are cut off, Some of the vines are twelve or
fifteen feet high, as thick as my arm with but
simple branch, aud that ut the top of last
years growth, carried off horizontally to
another stake or tree, perhaps twenty feet
distant. Passing this country, all the while
ascending quite rapidly, we enter the fields
of seoria thrown out in sixty-one This stuff
is almost black, and seems to have been in
semi liquid state. 1t looks as though it had
run down the mountain when about the con-
sistencv of mortar. It is now porous fra
gile kind OF stone, much like ordinary coal
cinder, but not quite so black. Nearly up
10 the cone is the Hermitage, an ancient
church. which all the eruptlons have left un
touched, and near it q government observa-
tory. About six miles across the scoria
brings you to the foot of the cone, which is
about thousand feet high, and which gentle
men ascend on foot, and ladies in chairs
carried by two men. The ascent is made
over what are apparently loose stones, which
look as though they were all ready to start
and roll to the bottom of the hill.
1made the ascent of the cone in thirty-fye
minutes which was doing unusual well. By the
had become cloudy and nothing could be seen
of the surrounding country. The crater which
is about a mile and half in circumference.
and five hundred feet deep, was full of smoke
and clouds, and could not descend it. Sui
phurous smoke was occasionally blown past
us, and in some places the sides of the crater
were incrusted with sulphur. From cracks
in the ground, smoke was issuing in various
places. and very sensible degree of heat
was felt upon inserting the hand We
descended the cone in the cinders, which are
about as soft as good rich allavial soil would
be dumped off a very high bank. At every
step you sink in to the depth of six or eight
inches, and as there is little danger of hurt
ing oneself ii is the usual custom to come
down ati u full run. The most interesting
feature of the trip to me was the immense
fields Of scoria which are very singular
There has been no eruption of loea believe
for great many years. The present villages
of REGINA and T@rese, del Greco. are built
directly over the ruins of Herculaneum which
was buried IN an eruption of lava. This lava
is now as hard as granite, and to me, the
greatest curiosity about Herculaneum was the
amount Of work that has been done to ey-
pose it. About hundred yards square of
the town have been exposed, the lava not
being very deep, and at other places a very
large theatre is worked out between eighty
and q hundred feet under solid lava This
lies directly under the village of Recina and
you take candles and go down cellar to visitit.
Pompeii was covered with water and ashes
and not lying very deep, the work Of ex-
huming it has not been SO great, and in cous
sequence it has been carried to such great
er extent. About a half a mile square,
should think. of Pompeii has been uncover
ed and and the work is still progressing, the
city covering, hin the walls, about three
miles By two. To attempt a description of
it is out of the question as it would take a
volume. The houses appear to have been
mostly of but one story in height built
round court on which the rooms opened,
and from which they obtained light. Some
of The finest houses had second court, gen.
orally fitted up and used as garden. The
masonry is mixture Of brick and stone,
and the houses appear to have been rather
rough looking on the outside, though some
of them were evidently very finely finished
and decorated in the interior. Some of the
frescoes appear TO be as fresh as though
painted yesterday, though most of them, es-
pecially the figures of persons, have become
rather iudistinct. The streets were well
paved with square blocks Of lava, in the same
manner as those of Naples at the present
day, and they were much better supplied
with sidewalks than are those of Naples.
They are all quite narrow, but as the houses
were SO much lower than those now in use,
| imagine the city must have been much
lighter and more pleasant. The city was
covered TO about the tops of the houses, in
some places little more, and some little
less, and gradually, | suppose, those parts
which projected above ground were thrown
down. and the marks of the town were lost
Still the wonder to me is, not that it has not
been discovered and opened before, but that
they should have opened it, or so much of it,
az they have done as this whole country is
fall OF ruined cities buried at various depths.
Since commencing this letter have made
the trip to Baisae, and have seen ruins and
evidences of buried cities sufficient to stock
State In our country. In some places there
have been three successive cities over the
same spot. Baisae and Curnae were the
great seaport towns of ancient Rome. and
also the fashionable watering places, there
being an immense number of mineral and
sulphur vapor and water baths in the vicinity,
occasioned by the volcano that is slumbering
below. II is still so, some Of the baths being
merely fiat places cut in the pumice stone,
on which the patient lies, and the medicated
vapor being constantly rising through the
stone he gets the full benefit of it. will try
to tell you what | saw that day: First, the
tomb OF Virgil at the end of the grotto of
Fans,iipo; a tunnel seventy-fve feet high and
TWO thousand feet long, through which the
ROAD passes; the lake of Aguano, formerly
crater some alum baths, water and yapor:
a small crater into which a dog was mt mil
he tainted, but coming to, he frisked around
as though he was inebriated, and afterwaras
evidently wanted to try it again. An Inn.
mense asmphitheatre, recently excavased, in a