Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1871-01-04


cut through the tufa mountain rock, near
ly half mile in length, more than twen-
ty feet wide aud varying in hight from
twenty-five to seventy feet. 1t is perfect
ly straight, and such is its position, look
ing westward toward the sea, that in Feb
ruary and October the rays Of the setting
sun shine directly through it. 1t is the
great highway to Naples from the West,
but not even the combined noise of dom
keys and clamorous peasants which thrOng
its badly-lighted echoing passage, is sufi-
cient to dispel the thoughts of other ages
which crowd upon the mind as we pass
through it and remember that the contem-
poraries Of Virgil and of the Caesars trod
it vaulted and dimly-lighted street. Its
origin is lost in the obscurity Of the past.
1t was an antiquity when Strabo and Sem
eca described it but when or by whom
the excavation was made, no record or
monument remains to show.
As we emerge from its western extrem-
ity, a beautiful view of hill and plain, and
sea and island, opens before us, heighten-
ed by one of the lovliest Of Italian spring
mornings.
To the right of the road, and at some
distance from it, is the Grotto del Cane,
about which remember to have read when
boy, with no little wonder at the deadly
effects Of the gas that issues from it but
we had no desire to see the experiment
tried upon the poor dog that is kept for
the purpose, and resuscicated as often as
he is rendered insensible by the carbonic
acid gas of the cavern. This cavern OF
grotto is also very ancient. 1t is men,
toned by Pliny, who speaks of the
deadly properties of the gas which issues
from 1t.
Further on lies Lake Avernus, which
Virgips poetry has transferred to quite
another region and made the vestibule o
the Internal world.
Its ancient condition and appearance,
must have been very different from it
e present. 1t is described by ancient writ
g ers as overhung with gloomy forests ant
r exhaling noxious vapors, so that no birC
It could fly over it. Its waters were darl
}, and fetid and deep gloom overspreac
!, its surface and its shores. Under the or
t dcrs of Augustus, its shores were cleared
e of timber and now it is fair sheet o
o water held in an almost perfect bowl o
r earth, whose sides are open to the sunligh
; and reflect its brightness.
: AS we approached the river Styx, W
n caught sight of the Elysian Fields, whicl
o we're not as tempting as the poetry ant
mythology of the ancionts had made them
The old ferryman was nowhere to be foun'
e nor had we the needful obolus with whicl
: to pay our passage if we had ired t.
: cross. We were assaulted too by watch
$ full dog, not Celberus, but single-headec
dog, who might have been descendant o
: of the one whose duty it was to keep il
? their appropriate spheres the spirits o
b the living and the dead.
e Baie is lovely indentaticn of tn
8 shore, the banks rising like an ampitheatr
e majestically from the sea and with as mucl
b regularity as if they were the work of art
e Its beautses were sung by Horace and de
e scribed in graver terms by historians. =
Here the most distinguished of the Rom
S ans had their villas, and in order to en-
e large the accommodation of this renowned
watering place, they built out into the sea
9 encroaching upon the bay, which was oc
cupied by the Roman feet. The shore
! have been shaken and torn by the convul
- sions that have made such ravages in cen
: turies past, and have completely obliterat
: ed the artificial beauties of the scene, bu
the imagination pictures grand and i'm
posing sight, when this amphitheatre wa
9 surrounded by the summer palaces of thu
+, most renowned men of ancient Rome, ant
when they came here to indulge in luxu
ry and extravaganza which they hardl,
t dared to exhibit in their palaces a
$ home.
r In one of the ruined temples of Bai@ {
f large circular building with grand dome
S still remaining. and which was quite re
markable for its echo and for perfec
: whispering gallery, we encountered par
I ty Of young girls, who asked if we woult
like to see them dance the Tarantella
adding in English, at is very pretty, an(
at it they went, to the sound of the tam
BOURNE, in lively and modest dance o
the peasantry, which they seemed to en-
joy nightly.
We closed our days excursion by |
0 visit to Cums the antiquity Of which run
: far back until it is lost in obscurity, ant
a which in its desolate and almost uninhsb
5 tied condition was more as we would wisl
: to find such a spot than any towns tina