The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-02-06
A TRIP TO AN ERUPTION.

I have never been able to decide with
any degree of certainty whether or not
I should feel grateful that the Fates Or
dained for me rather longer sojourn
in the city of Naples than they gener-
ally do for young Englishmen who are
not constrained by business to reside
there. think the remark has been made
before about there being no " without
its share of alloy and, as certainly the
pleasures of life in the sunny south
such as the lovely climate in spring and
autumn, the luscious fruits, the glo-
rious scenery-are great, so the draw
backs of detestable climate in summer
and winter, of f1eas, flies, mosquitoes
and worse, of dust, dirt, and their &C
companying fevers, are as great, if not
greater and when You throw into the
balance that worst of all Neapolitan
evils, the sirocco, I think there are few,
except those who have passed half
lifetime in India, who would not agree
with me in the conviction that, like Ire
land, Naples is very good place to
live out of.
AS matter of course, large per-
centage of the visitors to the south of
Italy make a point of going up Vesu-
vius but yet was astonished to find
the number of sight-seers, and enthusi-
astic ones, too, who were perfectly sat
isfed with the aspect of the mountain
from the different points of view at its
base; still more were content with as
cending only as far as the Hermitage
and Observatory, which lie about half
mile from the base of the cone, and
which can be reached in a three -horsed
carriage nearly as easily as Hamstead
from the city.
At this point you have really done as
much as is necessary to enable you to
say with truth you have been up Vesu-
vius as the view from here is very fine,
and you have passed, by means of a
capital road, the expanse of old lava,
which is the most curious part of the
whole mountain, and the most difficult
to realize mentally, as photographs and
paintings can give but very feeble no.
ton of the grand desolation of this out
come of one of natures greatest con-
vulsions.
The idea conveyed to my mind was
that, on slope of ground about mile
in length and a third of a mile in
taken place; that some hundreds of
slain, and torn limb from limb, but had
SO fallen as to completely cover the
plaiu four or five deep, showing only
their black skin with its peculiar shiny
surface, with here and there a recently
diseased carcass throwing off a Jet of
such vapor as would arise from perspir-
ing horses on a damp day. This will
give pretty correct notion of the old
Nv
and weather been worn almost smooth,
and through their assures there issues
sulphurous steam, showing that, al
though more than fifteen years have
elapsed since its expulsion from the
bowels of the mountain, there must be
pools of lava underneath the surface
still molten and unextinguished and
if the visitor should push stick to the
depth of a couple of feet into one of
the crevices, the end will be charred in
a few moments. We can in some meas
ure understand, from this power of re-
amount of time our planet must have
taken to cool down to its present state
of solidity.
From the observatory, too, You can
distinctly see the construction of that |
cone and no amount of ascending will |
give one better idea of it. If the top
of the cone is gained the greater eleva- |
ton gives a slightly farther range of |
view, but not sufficient to compensate
for the fatigue and annoyance of the |
climb.
Men who have scaled the highest |
European peaks have informed me that |
kho oF Ion
hours ascent, is the most fatiguing-
from the roughness and insecurity of |
the foothold in the ashes, as they i'm |
and relaxing effect of the climate must |
Guilty experienced.
can easily imagine the ascent of the |
mountain being made most unpleasant |
to casual visitors by the dishonesty, |
laziness, and obstinacy of some of the |
guides. Even with knowledge of their
dialect, and choosing my |
own weather, and having everything in |
my favor, always declared, on retC m |
ing home from each ascent, that that |
particular one should be my last; and |
after my third I really believe should
have carried out my resolution, had it |
nob DeSu IoE Tie uaSS5uIuCou6 eruption |
which burst out shortly after, thus en-
abling me to witness an effect / had |
long desired to see.
Although no one could tell when the
eruption would commence, yet the peo-
pie, wise in the signs of the mountains |
laborings, had prophesied that some
thing uncommon was about to happen, |
as for some time past the usual streak
of smoke that issues from the great |
crater at the apex of the cone had be- |
come intensified in volume, and at night |
flashes of light could be distinctly seen
reflected on the lower surface of the |
smoke cloud, indicating that not far |
from the mouth the crater there was |
a reservoir of boiling, seething fluid, !