The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-12-03
Foreign Notes.
Nov. OOH. 1857.

Nov. Goth, 1857.
Mr.. EDITOR :-Pressure of duty has
kept me longer from coming 10 the rescue
than anticipated. Doubtless you are
still in the ashes where left you. BE.
fore ascendin, the cone let US take SUR
vey of the mountain from where we stand
The whole mass seems to be formed of
two parts. The old mountain in whose
original crater you are now standing, and
the present cone, thrown up in A. ID. 20,
1910 feet in air, 80 that the present al
titude of the mountain is between 5000
and 1000 feet. Facing north. you see
Just before you til cliffs, from 20 to l25
feet high, that formed he nurihe wall,
Of the ancient crater. Fire has left its
unmistakable marks upon them. They
are piles of volcaDic rock and ashes most
ly thrown up from the bowels OF the
earth. Ihev sweep arounl in kind of
sem-circle, from Il. 10 w. two miles
AMI halt. Once they made the entire
circuit Of the ancient crater but two
thirds of their length around on the
southern side of the volcano, were swept
away in the eruption that laii Pompaii in
ruins
Facing southwards. you see n copical
pile of ashes, broken its Of lava, loose
stones and boulders-the terrible effects
of nature fiery eme!ic--the debris OF her
me ciess work of MISUNDERSTANDING the
cone in the center of whose summit is the
present crater. Ii is literally Il mountain
Of ashes.
The preparations for the ascent are
various. First. the question OF guides
must be settled. Ii seems supremoly rid
iculous to pay out your L'ia' to 4 man to
show you up by way that you coulI
not possibly miss. But it is safest to do
50. These guides are desperate fellows.
Tney earn their living on this mountain
To show their character | detected one
Of them while at the hermitage, IN oealinr
under his garments a long sharp dseger-
convenient things Tia se--to force ven to
hire them They are sure to cause YOU
trouble unless you do. They seem to
consider the right of way up ts exclusive
Iy theirs. We did not propose to take
any guides, except for the two ,dtes, but
our generalissimo darkly limited that we
had better take three. We thought dis
cretion the better part Of valor and yield
ed
The next question to be settled IS Tie
method of ascent. Ladies are usually
carried up hy two men, in chair ar
ranged between two poles. The guides
are SO accustomed to the ascent that they
,, Chamber up with astonishing agility
Men usually walk up. Your guide fas
tens "A strap around your wrist, passes it
through your hand an over his Ter
and goes before you to put you Up
With stick in your hand for which you
have paid Ira GO cts. and with your
guide before you, you are ready for the
ascent
Thus capari 'oncd we began the ascen, ;
all OF Us, Ladies included, walking. We
had an hour OF hard climbing, ,t-aight ny
, the barren face Of the cone, under the
rays of n burning sun, over scoria, hard
and jagged, and sharp, ald over beds Of
ashes into which we sank as il il had
been snow, before we stood upon the
edge of the crater and peered into ils cav
ernous depths. A line Of scoria extend.
from summit to base Of the cone. Ii i,
!, necessary 10 keep along this line as muci
4. as possible, for il is extremely tire.ome Il
:. Chamber up over beds of ashes, into which
you sink nearly to the knees at ever,
r step. But one must be careful wher,
and how he steps upon the loosely " ins
scoria, for they are liable TO move be-
. meath the foot and precipitate one head
long down The declivlty.
We climbed an hour in this way at ,
sleeper angle than 40 , and stood upcr
| the top, covered with persp Ration, smeare.
with dust, but thrilled with ast0n,s'lmeni
. at the sight before US. We had read O
f Vesuyus IN our childhood, and lremb.e,
4 at the story. We were standing upon i
now, filed with awe. There MAS tht
4 crater, sullen, angry, sulphurous, sur
y rounded by the stones, and ashes, an,
. lava, it had belched forth from its owl
: seething bowels. If Vulcan's shop
under LE,na, he must have branch cs
tablishment under Vesuyius.
g This crater is an enormous basin, will
steep, volcanic walls, all of ashes, red
d steaming, Kissing, hot, from 25 to l0l
: feet high. The basin is fully three
h tourths Of mile in circumference Th
g walls are ragged and broken, from th,
c violence of the action to which they hav,
: been subjected. We went around tn
edge of this basin aud looked down int,
n it, The bottom is filed with bFoken, ir
). regular masses Of lava. from whose crev
y ices steam is constantly Kissing forth, fl
}, ling the atmosphere with choking, sulphur
d ous vapo. In every direction we coul,