The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1869-01-22
Foreign.
A STIRRING SKETCH.
AZ tins Crater OF Vesuvius.
Prom the Pail Mall dazeite.l

~ ~ ,A3 -
perhaps the most generally interesting OF
all, but which, from the nature of the case,
cannot so frequently be recorded. lrefeI
to the impressions Of one who has stood
upon the lip Of the crater and looked down
while an eruption is actually in progress,
IL is not always that q view Of such a scene
can be obtained. IL was at n time when
crash was following crash in a manner that
was quite sufficiently terrible, and when all
the suffocating steams aud vapors were be
inp driven 10 one side of the mountain by
n STRONG wind, that we were able to go up
from the windward side, stand upon the
lin Of the crater, look down into the roar.
ing abyss, and see what the eruption of q
volcano looks like on the spot.
That is, in truth, the only way Of getting
an idea OF what a repository Of horrors q
volcano Is, without such visit, Yesuvius
is often q little disappointing. II is moth
ing but fine mountain, Just like any other,
saws Mehdessohn. You may be n little
disappointed as you see Vesuvius from be-
low. But You have only 10 mount to the
summit when an eruption of any magnitude
is in progress TO find yourself in the pre-
sence Of appalling phenomena both ofsight
and sound. Choose the last few hours OF
daylight for your ascent, and then, rs the
darkness closes round and the world below
becomes hidden from your view you stand
at the crater in presence ofa scene for which
no language can be very extravagant. For
experienced mountain Q rs the effort re-
quired for the ascent is nothing remark
able; but for ordinary people it is labor
ious enough.
You arrive afthe edge Of the crater, and
there you behold a scene full Of awe and
majesty. The suddenness with which you
come upon il is quite startling. Going up
you neither sec nor hear anything. One
moment you are clambering up the side Of
the cone amid profound silence; tho next
moment, as your head rises above the era
ter lip. you encounter a roar and q blaze
which make you shrink back n little. This
surprise is o%ccasioned, / suppose, by the
formation of the crater. IL is a hugo bowl
which comes mp TO quito q sharp lip, about
half a mile in diameter and some hundred
yards in depth. Towards t-e bottom of
this bowl, on the opposite side to where we
stood, was a great hole, from which oil the
proiectilos of the eruption wero shot; the
surface of the bowl being composed OF
Jumps Of lava, stones, and cinders, all sf
them smeared with sulphur, precisely like
those upon which we were standing. As
you oun the con6 there is between you
and the gulf an enormous wall. which dulls
everything alike-for eye and ear. Even
while on the sleeps Of the cone itself you
might be unaware that tho mountains was
disturbed. But n single step seems almost
enough 10 transfer you from themost death
like stiffness TO the grandest exhibition of
force 1t is possible TO conceive. Instead Of
the monotonous duh black of CONCEALED
lava on the lower levels, you have tho deep
brick red Of stones that have been under
the action of FIRE, the brightest yermillion,
and every imaginable shade Of orange and
yellow that sulphur deposits are capable Of
taking. The ground il hot too; so hot, in
deed, tina You cannot keep your foot on
the same spot for many seconds together.
Between the chinks Of the stones shot out
from fire blazing on the top of the one
you can see that n fow inches below the
surface il il actually red hot. You thrust
in the end of your stick for a momen and
You pull il ont charred. Over all the far
ther half OF the crater there hangs q dense
cloud Of smoke and vnpor; all around You
there is an atmosphere of sulphur which
sets you coughing; from numberless small
holes about your feet there issue with q
hiss sulphurous Jets Of steam which nearly
choke you as you pass over them; and
then MS you look down into the actual
abyss you are face TO face with the most
appalling phenomena, both of sight and
sound, which, perhaps, tho whole of Eu-
rope has TO offer. Among the crowd Of
strange sensations that are experienced nj
such n tim the phenomena OF sound are
perhaps the most wonderful of all. What
meets the ear is, if anything, oven more
terrific than what meets the eve. Even to
the eruption Is not Just what the inn
agination paints il beforehand. It does
consist, as the pictures necessarily lead
ono to suppose, of a continuous shower at
all. Still less does il consist Of q continu-
GUS shower ofblaok ashes mountain; it is
a series Of explosions. But the roar
and glare OF the deep abyss is continuous.
You look into the pit, and though you see
actual ham9, vet its sides are in n state
Of constant incandescence; from the mouth
of II there roars up necessarily a dense
cloud Of steam; and in the depths of it be-
low you hear the noise of preparations for
the outburst that ia next TO come, Then
you hear a sharper crack, and then with
ont further warning follows a loud explo-
sion, which shoots into the air q torrent Of
white-hot missiles of every shape and size.
So enormous are the forces at work, that
not only small pieces of stone and sulphur
as you might carry away as memen-
Of your visit, but huge blocks Of min
eral, each enough 10 load n railway ballast
wagon, and all in a state Of perfectly white
heat, are tossed up as though they were so
many cricket-balls. The explosions last,
perhaps, no longer than a minute; und
then there is a cessation of some seconds,
with the noise only of internal preparation
once more, after which the explosion is re-
That was nothing TO the almost
Supplying din that was going on before us
moments when the daylight was over,
and the world below could no longer DO
distinguished when we had nothing but
the clear starlight overhead, and were
truly alone with the mountain; when the
varied coloring of the ground had disap-
peared in the darkness, and nothing couid
be seen but the CLEAN of the burning earth
through the chinks at our feet, while tho
glaring ribbon of molten lava
glided languidly down the mountain at our
side, and before us was the flashing of the
inner fire upon the cloud of vapor over
hanging the abyss. Take all these togeth-
or, and the scene is indeed rather different
from what You picture 10 yourself as you
read in your paper hat Vesuvius is
once again in a state of eruption.
/ spoke just now Of the stream Of lava
which glides down the mountain. In the
first place. two peoularities were obserya-
BILE in it. One wa the marvellous slowness
of its motion. In the early part of its de-
scent the incline over which il had 10 pass
precipitous; yet 30 slowly did this
mass of liquid fire move within its bed
that its currents was only just perceptible.
seemed to be only just motion. Perhaps
in some degree connected with the same
cohesion which this languor of movement
lava stream-the tenacity of its surface. In
appearance, ms we stood above il, it was in
a perfectly liquid state; it lookedas though
you might rufle its surface with the point
of your stick. Great, accordingly, was our
surprise at finding that even with the very