The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-05-22
0rophto Account or the Recent Erups
tton OF vesuvius.

0rophtc Account or tho Recent Erup.
ton OF vssuvius.
The following letter from the Hon. B.
States Consul at Naples, giving his inn.
pressions OF the recent eruption at Ve.
suyius, will be read with interest:
UNITED STATES CONSULATE,
NAPLES, April %, 1872.
To THE EDITOR OF THE CHAR1rsros
NEWS: I send you paper with some 40.
count Of the terrible eruption of Vesu.
vius. OF which you will have heard go
much before you receive this. would
write you some account of it, only am
Zoo busy just now, and know you will
see notice enough of its horrors in the
papers. 1t will take rank as one of the
most violent eruptions for centuries.
Ine damage done is tremendous, and
when we consider that the greatest vio-
!ence did not last moro than eighteen or
twenty hours, We are horrifed at what
would have been the destruction had it
continued, as is usual, two, three or four
Gays. The scene during Friday and
Friday night, 26,h instant, was grand
horrible beyond conception, much less
description. Think of mountain over
4,oOO feet high, like one solid mass of
iava-of the immense volumes of smoke
forced mp IN direct line to more than
nve times the height OF the mountain,
OF lmmene d-hot stones, large enough
TO be distinctly visible from our win
dows, twelve and fifteen miles distant,
thrown to the height Of 1000 to 1000
ieet; OF continuous roar like that of
neavy thunder; and you may form
RANT Idea OF what was the grandeur of
the scene Within the brief space of
eighteen hours the lava ran farther than
at any eruption this century, or than
any, probably since 1851. There has
PROBABLY been no eruption more sudden
or violent in its first outbreak, and never
was the lava known to flow so RAPIDLY.
we could watch its movement distinctly
from our house. The cause of the great
loss OF Lille was that the mountain had
neen very brilliant the night of the oath,
thougn not alarming, and this had at
tracted hundreds up the m ountain, in
the expectation of seeing from nearer q
similar show the night of the 25th.
towards o'clock in the morning the
terrible explosion took place, without q
moments warning. Eye witnesses saw
the whole side of the cone seemed to
open, and many were overwhelmed with
the mass of stones and red-hot lava. or
soalded to death with the boiling water
thrown out. The number of the dead
cannot yet be known. Many are miss
ing who may probably yet return. T
think not over thirty are known TO be
dead. think no American has been
lost, for wonder, as there we're MANY
up the mountain early that night.
b. 0. DUNCAN.
A correspondent of the London Te1e
graph, writing from Naples, On the 26th
of April, says:
Our volcanic neighbor has not only
been unusually boisterous this time. but
1T has excelled itself in treachery. The
overwhelming of Herculaneum, if not a
myth, may have been sensational in its
day, but in tragic horror it must have
fallen behind some of the heart. rendinp
scenes which we have been OBLIGED to
witness during the past week. Before
the storm, there was calm-an exoui-
site calm-for which the DESTROYER
decked himself in his most transoendant
beauty. For several nights before the
new craters burst, the mountain was 40
enchanting in its robe of flame that Ma
pies could not think of going to bed.
Hour after hour, until the return of day-
light. one and all of us fingered in the
streets, or by the shore of the bay.
drinking in the glory of Vesuvian
TRANSPORTATION. Few who witnessed it
will ever forget the first of these moo.
turnal displays. When darkness fell on
the night of the 23d, the great cone
seemed suddenly to festoon itself with
wreaths Of fire. From its summit. three
eraters were playing simultane eously.
Continuous clouds of luminous smoke
asoended in the star-lit sky. On their
wings, they bore solid masses of scorim.
which, after rising to considerable dis.
tance, either fell back into the crater. or
were thrown over the side of the cone
into streams of lava which were flowing
down the mountain. The moon. as #
jealous OF its terrestrial rival, shone with
such brilliancy as only Southern heavens
are favored with. The three craters emu.
lated it in the steadiness of their ilIumi.
nation. From hour to hour, the scene
maintained an unchanging grandeur.
until toward SUNRISE, when it eiTaced
itself almost as abruptly as it had ap-
peared. 1t was past o'clock before I
could turn my back on Vesuvius, and
wend my way homeward,. thinking dis
trustfully of the probable sequel. Next