Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-04-08


for gouty and rheumatic subjects. The tenn
perature of the vapor is about $50 degrees
Fahrenheit, and there seems to be plenty of
it, A little distance 10 the right is the
Grotto del Care, a cave in the hill side from
the sides of which steam, mixed with car
bonlc acid gas, is constantly issuing. An
attendant, Immediately on your appearance,
takes dog which he has in waiting, holds
him down to the floor of the cave where,
from lis greater specific gravity than air,
the gas desc ends, and holds him there few
seconds, when he shows the effects of the
gas by spasms that soon pass off when he
is taken into the open air. A lighted taper,
placed within one foot of the floor, was i'm
mediately extinguished--a much less cruel
and quite as satisfactory an experiment as
that with the dog. 1t is said that it used TO
be used as place of execution, the victims
being slut up in the cave to die Of suffoca-
| ton.
We came back to the main road to Poz-
zuoli, and passing close to Nisida, we saw
the Lazzaretto erected by the noted captain
of Charles Y. and Philip H., of Spain, the
Duke Of Alba. Here at Nisida, Brutus re-
tired after the assassination of Caesar, and
|
on the affairs of State Farther on we came
to Pozzuoli once called Puteoli, and found
ed six or seven centuries before Christ.
Fabius defended it successfully against Ham
nibal, and it was the scene of the last de-
baucheries and death Of Syla. 1t was here
also that St. Paul and st. Luke landed when
sent to Rome ty Agrippa. 1t is still town
of 1900 inabitan,s, but shows little evil
dence of its former Importance. A temple
OF Jupiter Scraps, near it, is a most inter-
esting ruin, long buried, and unearthed
century ago. Some columns, still standing
exhibit conclusive evidence of the alternate
subsistence of the coast beneath, and its ele-
walton above, the level of the bay. The sub
sidence is again said to be going on al the
rate Of quarter Of an inch annually. The
| former subsistence is estimated to have been
81 feet, and the elevation took place in 1888,
when Monte Nuoro, but short distance
away, was blown up. The ruins of two 9TH
er Tempes--that Of the ''Nymphs'' and
"Neptune, are to be seen, partly under
water. Here Cicero had villa, and with
out the city, on a hill, is a vast ampitheatre,
in very good state of preservation, which
was once famous for its gladiatorial com
bats, and in which Nero entertained the Ar
menian King, Tiradates with display of
spectacles-he himself descending into the
arena and killing several wild beasts 1t is
said that here st. Januarius was exposed
to the wild beasts Of the arena, which refus-
ed to touch him, and they were compelled
to behead him. Some drops of his blood,
kept in the Cathedral of Naples, are said TO
undergo lquefaction twice year, and his
relies are regarded as SO potent for good
that they are brought out by the Neapoli.
tans upon every threatened catastrophe to
their city,
Near Pozzuoli is the crater of Solfa,ara,
an irregular oral plain, much below the lev
el Of the ridge of pumiceous tufa which sur
rounds it, A stone thrown down heavily in
the centre causes a hollow sound. and "A
iarring of the earth for some distance. indi-
eating large vaulted chasm beneath the
present crust. From beneath the base of
the hills on one side steam and noxous gas
es rush out in a roaring volume, tinging the
rocks yellow ana red with the sulphur and
muriates which they contain. y on enter
the depression and look into the mouth of
this steaming furnace, and The attendant
breaks Oft a portion Of the deposited crys
| tails, which are more than comfortably warm.
From the sand all around little Jets of steam
are emitted, and the soil is so hot in places
that You cannot bear your hard upon it.
Slrabo calls Soiatara the Forum Iuicani.
but the only known eruption ot lava from
it took place in ll9s.
Beyond z, zzuoii is Monte MORO, thrown
up by volcanic action in 1888. 1t is about
! | / e..
and It's crater is said TO be 4l9 feet deep
reaching, therefore, almost to its base. Is
| sides are vast mass OF lava and tuta and
pumiceous ashes. On tie west Of this
mountain is Lake Avernus. which the an
clients regarded as the mouth OF He'll. Nir,
| gil represents .I.neas as entering, Ivy the
Svbl's Cave on the banks of this lake, the
abode of spirits. 1t is said that birds at
tempting 10 fly over the lake, we're sutieca
ted by the noXious fumes which arose from
it, Agrippa united Lake Avernus and the
adjoining Lucrine Lake with the sea. dis
PEELED The terrors which poetry and fable
had spread about il, and made of both lakes
fine port for the Roman fleet, and upon it
gave to Augustus representation Of the
Battle of Ac,ium. The eruption of Monte
Nuoro, however, destroyed such works as
remained, and though some attempts were
commenced by the late Bourbon govern
ment to convert the lakes into IL great wet
dock, they have amounted TO nothing.
Near by the narrow causeway which sep
arates Lake Lucri2e from the sea, we
mounted the side of the hill, and entered
the vaul,ed chambers in the tuta rock con.
npcted with the hot Springs of Nero. A
long gallery leads to the springs, the waters
of which, at the temperature If lS2 degrees,
send forth volumes Of steam that fill the up
per part OF the gallery, so that TO reach the
81 rings one has 10 get close down to the
floor of the passage. A boy, with no other
clothing but a pair of pants, took some
eggs, and disappeared down the gallery, re-
turning in two or three minutes with the
eggs boiled, and bucket Of hot water, and
the sweat streaming from every pore,-evl-
dence that he mad been into a warm region.
We visited, also, Baise, i'll ancient times
the most luxurious bathing-pace in South
ern Europe--noted tor lis dissouteness--
but now u vast mass Of ruins. At or near
it lived, at times, Cesar. Crassus. Cato Lu-
cullus, Pompey, Sylla, Domtian, Nero. Hor
tensius, Hadrlan, Cicero. Seneca. Peirarch
4 and Boccaclo. NJ tne VIVA OF HuFenSluS,
the monster Nero plotted the death oi his
mother, Il crime which lie accomplished at
her own villa near the Lucriue Lake. Here
lived. also, Octavia, the sister of Augustus,
and the second wife OF Mark Authouv. whom
he deserted for the warm embraces OF Cleo
para. Indeed the whole locality is identi-
fed with some OF the most noted names Of
Roman history. Much of the site OF the old
city is now beneath the waves through the
subsistence OF the coast. In one of the
vaul,ed bathing rooms, commonly called the
Temple of Mercury, party Of peasants
danced for us the Tarnntula, accompany
ing themselves with tamhourines and casla-
neis, Keeping up the remembrance of the
dancing girls of whom Suetonious speaks
in his lie of Nero, and whose unhalowed
midnight orgies to,k place in the caves
along the coast.
We visited, also, a vast underground lab
yrinih Of dark passages and chambers, call
ed the Prisons Of Nero upon the floors OF
which your steps resouud rs if striking up
on a hollow >essol-so near are you through
the thin crust of earth that covers the vol
cunic cavity beneath. We saw also the vast
reservoir, with roof supported by high, mag
niicent rolumns and arches, into which the
Juilan acqueduct poured the water that was
for the use of the Roman fleet, which har
bored in the adjoining ports OF Misennm,