The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-12-08
a STEERING sKErCn.
at the CratEr of VesuVius.
FT0m NE EqH BFau Ga-st.e.

VINO mas $1,000 upon inc lip OF inc era
ter andlooked down while an eruption
is actually in progress. It's not always
that view of such scene can be OBJ.
tanned. It was at time when crash
was following crash in a manner that
was quite sufficiently terrible, and
when all the suffocating steams and
1 yapors were being driven to one Side OF
| the mountain by a strong wind, that
| We were able to go up from the wind
ward side, stand upon the lip of the era
ter, look down into the roaring abyss,
| and see what the eruption of a volcano
looks like on the spot.
| That is, in truth, the only way of get.
| ting an idea of what a repository of hOr.
rors volcano is. Without such visit
Vesuvius Is often little disappoint-
ing. 1t is nothing but fine mountain,
Just like any other, says mendelssohn.
You may be a little disappointed as you
see YesuYius from below. But you
have only to mount to the summit
when an eruption of any magnitude is
in progress to find yourself In the pres.
ence OF appalling phenomena both of
sight and sound. Choose the last few
hours of daylight for your ascent and
then, as the darkness closes around and
the world below becomes hidden from
your view, you stand at the crater in
presenceof a scene for which no lau-
guRge can be very extravaganza. For
experienced mountaineers the effort re-
quired for the ascent is nothing remark
able; but for ordinary people 1t is la
borious enough.
You arrive at the edge of the crater,
and there yOu behold a scene full of
awe and majesty. The suddennes5 with
which You come upon il is quite start
ling. Going up yon neither see nor
hear anything. One moment you are
profound silence; the next moment,
as your head rises above the crater lip,
You encounter roar and blaze which
makes you shrink back little. This
surprise is cccasioned, l suppose by the
formation OF the crater. 1t is a hinge
bowl which comes up to quite sharp
lip, about half mile in diameter and
some hundred yards in depth. Towards
abe bottom of this bowl, on the opposite
side to where We stood, was great hole
from which all the projectiies Of the
eruption were shot; The surface OF the
bowl being composed OF Jumps of lava.
stones, and cinders all of them smeRred
with sulphur, precisely like those upon
which we were standing. As you
mount the cone there is between you
and the gulf an enormous wall, which
dulls everything alike-fOT eye and ear.
Even while on the steps OF the cone it
selfyou might be unaware THAT the
step seems almost enough 10 transfer
you from the most deathlike Stiffness to
the grandest exhibition of force 1t Is
possible to conceive. Instead of the
montonous dun black OF congealed
lava on the lower levels, you have the
deep brick red of stones that have been
under the action OF fire, the brightest
vermiIlion, and every imaginable
shade of orange and yellow that snl-
phur deposits are capable OF taking.
The ground is hot too; SO hot, III
deed, that you cannot Keep your loot
on the same spot for many seconds to-
geIher. Between the ehincks OF the
stones You can see that few inches be.
low the surface it is actually red hot.
You thrust in the end of your stick for
n moment and you pull it out cbarred.
Over all the farther half oil the crater
there hangs dense cloud oil smoke anu
yapor; all around you there Is an at
mosphere of sulphur which sets you
coughing; from numberless small holes
about your feet there issue with hiss
sulphurous jets of steam which nearly
choke you as you pass over them and
then, as you look down into the actual
abyss YOU are face to face with the most
appalling phenomena, both of sight
and sound, which, perhaps, the whole
of Europe has to offer. Among the
crowd of strange sensations that are
experienced at such time, the phe.
nomena of sound are perhaps the most
wonderful of all. What meets the ear
is. If ANYTHING, even more terrific than
what meets the eye. Even 10 sight the
eruption is not just what the imagtna-
ton paints ii beforehand. 1t does not
consist, as the pictures necessarily lead
one 10 suppose, of continuous shower
ut all. Still less does It consist of a
continuous shower OF black ashes shot
ont from a fire blazing on the top of the
mountain it is rather series OF explo-
sions, But the roar and glare of the
great abyss is continuous. You look
into the pit, and though you see no
actual flame, yet its sides are in
state OF constant incandescence; from
the mouth of It there roars up inces-
sanity a dense cloud OF steam; and In
the depths 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 fur
Their warning follows loud exp toaionl
which shoots into the air a torrent of
white. hot missiles of every shape and
size, So enormous are the forces at
work not OILY small pieces OF stone and
sulphur, such as You might carry away
\ as mementoes of your visit, but huge
| blocks of mineral, each enough 10 load
| a railway ballast wagon, and all in
state of perfectly white heat, are tossed
| MP as though theyWere SO many cricket
balls. The explosion lasts, perhaps, no
| longer than a minute; and then there is
a Cessation of some seconds with the
noise only of Internal Preparation once
more, alter which the explosion is re-
SEATED, That was nothing TO The al
most Supplying din that was going on
/ before us-moments when the daylight
was over, and the world below conld no
/ longer be NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. we had
\ nothing bat the clear starlight over
head, and were truly alone with the
mountain; when the varied o0lOring of
the ground had disappeared in the
darkness, and nothing could be seen
hut the CLEAN of the burning earth
/ Through the chinks Of our feel: while
1.-THE white, hot glaring ribbon of molten
lava glided languidly down the noun
tain At our side, and before us was the
flashing of the inner ire upon the
cloud Of vapor overhanging the abyss.
Take all these together, and the scene is
Indeed rather different from what You
picture to yourself as you calmly read
in your newspaper that Yesuytus is
once again in q state of eruption.
. spoke just now of the stream of lava
which glides down the mountain. In
the first place, two peculiaritfes were
observable in Ii. One was the marvel
lous sloWness of its motion. in the
early part of its descent the incline
over which # had to pass was precipt.
tous; yet so slowly did this mass o.
lliquid fire move within its b51 thati tf
current was only just pereeptible. II
.