The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-12-31
4 STIRRING SKETCH.
at the Crater of Vcsuvius.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.l

such q scene can be oDtalned. IL Was at q tlmc
when crash was following crash in manner
that was quito sufficiently terrible, aud when
all the suflOcatine steams and yapor5 were be-
ing driven to one side of the mountain by a
strong wind that We wcro oblc 10 go up from
| the wipdward side stand upon the lip Of the
crater. look down into the roaring abyss. and
sec what the eruption OF volcano looks like on
the spot.
That is in truth, the only way Of getting an
idea of what repository OF horrors volcano
is. You may be little disappointed as you see
Vesuyius from below. BIT yorl- have only to
mount to the summit,when IN eruption OF any
magnitude is in progress to find yourself in the
presence Of appalling phenomena both OF sight
and sound. Choose the last few hours OF day
light for your ascent; and then, as the darkness
closes round and the world below be-
comes hidden from your view, you stand at the
crater in presence Of scene for which no Ian
cuage can be very eXtravagant. For expert
cnccd mountaineers the effort required for the
ascent is nothing remarkable; but fOr ordinary
people il is laborous enough
You arrive at the edge of the crater, and
tb ere YOU behold scene full OF awo and maj
esty. The suddenness with which you come
upon il is quito startling. Going up you neither
see por hear anything. One moment you are
clambering up the side OF the cone amid pro-
found silence; the next moment, as your head
rises above the crater lip, you encounter n
roar and blaze which mako you shrink back
little. This surprise is oocasioned, | sup
pose, by the formation OF the crater. 1t IS
huge bowl which comes up to quito sharp
lip, about half mile in diameter and some
hundred yards in depth. Towards the bottom
of this bowl, on the opposite side TO where we
stood, was great hole, from which al
the projeciles OF the eruption were shot;
the surface of tho bowl being composed
of Jumps of lava, stones and clndcrs,
~. ,1,al,1 TOrp-
cisely like these upon which we were standing.
AS YOU mount the cone there is between you
and the gulf an enormous wall, Which dulls
everything alike-for eye and car. Even while
on the steeps of the cone itself you might be
unaware that the lnonntain was disturbed. Eut
q single step seems almost ef ough TO transfer
YOU from the most dcathiikc stiffness to Tie
grandcst exhibition of force IL ls possible 10
conceive. Instead Of tho nonotonous dull
black OF congealcd lava on the lower levels,
YOU have the deep brick red of s.ones that
have been under the action OF fire. the bright
est yermilion, and every Imaginable shade OF
orange and yellow that sulphur deposits are
capable OF taking. The ground is hot too;
so hot, indeed, that you cannot keep Your
feet on the same spot for many. seconds to-
gcther. Between tho cinks Of the stones
You can sec thata few inches below the surface
1t is actually red hot. You thrust in The ond
of YOUR stick tor moment and you pull it out
charrcd. Over all The further half Of the cfa-
ter there hangs dense cloud OF smoke and
vapor; all arouad you thcro is nm atmosphere
OF sulphur which sets you coughing; from
nnmberless small holes about your feet thefc
issue with q hiss sulphurous Jets OF steam
which nearly choke YOU as You pass over them;
and then as you look down INTO the actual
ABYSS Won are face to face with the most ap-
palng phenom cna, both Of sight and sound,
which, perhaps, tho whole o. Europe has to
offer. Among the crowd Of str.age sensations
that ore experienced at SUCH time tho phe-
nomena Of sound arc perhaps tho most 'To.-
derful of all. What meets the ear Is, II any
thiAg, even moro terrific than what meets the
eye. Even to sight the eruption IS nos just
what the imagination paints 1t Deforchaad.
1t does not consist. as the pictures neces-
sarily lead one to suppose, OF continuous
shower at all. Still less does it consist OF
continuous shower of black ashes shot out
from ire blazing on the top Of the mountain;
it is rather q series of explosions. But the
roar and glare eli the great abyss Is contlnu-
ous You look into the pit, and though you
see no actual fame, yet it's sides are in state
of constant incandesccnce; from the mouth OF
it there roars up inceSsantly dense cloud OF
steam; and in the depth OF it below you hear
the noise OF preparation for the outburst that
is next to come. Then you hear sharper
crackle, and then without further warning fol-
lows loud explosion, which shoots into the
air torrent of white-hot missiles OF every
shape and size. So enormous are the forces at
work that not only small! piec,s Of stone and
sulphur, such as you might carry away as
mementocs Of ycur visit. but huge blocks OF
mineral, cacir enough 10 load railway ballast
wagon, and a.. in u state OF perfectly white
heat, are tossed up as though they were so
many cricket balls. The explosion lasts, per-
baps, no longer than minute; and then there
is 4 cessation of some seconds with the noise
only OF internal preparation once more, after
which the explosion IS repeated. That was
nothing 10 the almost supplying din That was
gong on bclorc ui-llomcniS when the uay-
light WAS over, aud the world below could no
longer be distinguished when VIC had nothing
but the clear starlight overhead, and were
truly alone with tho mountain; when tine varied
colorins ot the ground had dlsappearo Ill the
darkness, and nothing could be seen but the
glcan oftno burning Garth through the cli'!ks
ut our rtc; while the White, hot Slarin& RIB
bor ormollcn lava glidcd langnidly down the
mountain at our side, and before us was the
Il ,s!llng of the inner fire upon the coui oil
vapcr ovcrhnngins the abyss. Take al these
to .cther and the scene is indeed rather differ
cut from what YOU picture to yourself as You
calmly rra in your newspaper that fcsuv lus
is once again i'll state Oh eruption
spoke just now OF the stream OF lava which
gldcs down The mountain. In tho first place,
IWO ppCulllIlllcb NCTS ODSeINRDic III il' O.S
was the marvellous slowness OF its motion. In
the early part of it descent the incline over
which it had to pass was prccipitons; yet SO
slowly did tins mass OF liquid lire move within
its bed that its current was only just pcrccptl-
bic. II seemed 10 be only just in motion.
Perhaps in some degree connected with the
same cohesion which this languor Of move
meat indicated, was the other popularity OF
the lava streanl-the tenacty OF its surface.
In appearance, as VIC stood above 1t, it
was in a perfectly liquid state; it look
ed as though you might rutilc. its sur
face with the point OF your stick. Great,
accordingly, was our surprise al finding that
even with tho very greatest force available
on the SPOT VIC could not make tue slightest
impression upon it. The largest masses rf
mnera! that We could lift, We dashed down
from above upon the burning stream; but they
Simply bonded across its face, hike Dall
upon floor, without producing the ialntcat
apparent ilentalioa. Moreover, 1t is common
lv supposed that lava is always projected from
the crater. and the language commonly used
iu des lip.i0n encourages the IDEA. IA stream
of lava was sen 10 Issue tom The crater" IL
the sort of phrasc0c.y with Will n one Is
most familiar i'll accounts OF crupions that
took place in by%oIc da:s. l am not sure that
this is ever strictly accurate; but Wit: the era
ter in anyihius Ike IT.; present iorm 1t haf'ily
seems probable l. would lake 1 vast quantity or
molten lava IL fill that great bowl OF half q mile
diameter which l suppose it would have to do
before Iuv o. il would run over down the sides
of llc mountain. I saw no indication that this
eyer tool, plac. While you are On the moUnz~
tain, the streams Of lava Which hare :ss'tcu
forth and cooed 1t The several previous erip
finn. q m u:t;tr 1stiurri shabic from clEl other