San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-11-30
IN the Top Of Vesnrims.
rcor. of the Washington start

TOP. II was oho Vi "'" A"e"''
,spce and exquisite beauty. The grand
..,eep of the bay of Naples extended be.
,ov with every tint Of rich, warm color
!. ,be water, the sky, the beautiful is.
lands. the bold headlands, and the con.
,;nuo,,s line Of bright.tinted cities and
,;ll.pes all the way round. A certain
,onder Indian summer haze, which I
have seen nowhere else in Italy, and
which may DO due to the smoke from
yesuvius, gave the whole landscape and
rsterscape sort of dreary charm quite
;rdescribable. To this harmony of color
must be added the different rich browns
~ the lava fields below; chocolate,
burut lumber, etc. Here was presented
,be spectacle Of two millions of the
liphtest hearted people under the sun
buddled right under the brow of this
terrible mountain, building their habi-
,ations over the graves of the ancestors
destroyed by it, and taking the average
chances of having lava stream come
down upon them once in three years.
The course of the great lava streams
that have gone down from Vesuvius
could be traced like the rivers on map.
II was curious to note how much they
resembled huge glaciers (only black or
chocolate colored glaciers) in their gen.
eral outline: but in passing over or
among them in zig-zag ascent, it is seen
that their structure is altogether differ
ent from that on the glacier Some
times they take on the shape of great
coils of writhing serpents; sometimes
that of the discovered limbs and bodies
Of giants cast in bronze; then again the
distorted lava looks like great bundles
Of rope, or like the gnarled trunks, limbs
and roots of colossal trees. The lava
} field between the Observatory and the
foot of the cone has exactly the appear
anceof a newly-ploughed field; only the
clods are of size to suggest that the
ploughing must have been done by Ii
tans
Ny strapmen took me down into the
crater on the run, and then set off across
the new lava to some of the red-hot fis-
sures, where they pulled out some dabs
Of the fluid lava upon stick and went
to work making impressions of coins.
These they sell for franc each, and it
required some pointed remarks to de-
tach them from this agreeable business
to visit the other parts of the crater,
and especially the great point of inter-
est, the new cone. We got quite near
1t, but as the red-hot scoria Cooking like
spurts of red sealing wax was falling in
showers over the edge, the guide would
not permit us to ascend it. and it was
not easy to settle the mooted question
whether it has one opening or two, as
the dense cloud of sulphurous yapor
emitted concealed the mouth even when
We We're to the windward. While we
were IN its close vicinity collapse in a
portion OF the bed of the new lava near
us caused the guide to make us move
away with some speed. In many places
Tue new lava gave forth hollow sound
IN Walking over it, and occasionally one
would slump in" through the thin crust
VIA bubble or blister, but bottom was
Always touched underneath without get
ing into an abyss. Over most of the
Aeld the lava was hot enough to make it
unpleasant for the feet, but the worst
mat happened to me was to scorch be-
sondredemption pair of walking shoes,
ua' they had already been pretty badly
asnorallzed by the rough experience of
hplhe travel. In fact, I had been say
"e eieln up for Nesuvius.
Alter exploring the field of new lava
aasiactorily We mounted to the rim of
ne great crater to take a fresh survey.
-u'efior and exterior, very much to the
u'sust of our guides and porters, who
'A'lted to get rs down the mountain in
"S'oh to secure new customers for the
A'ent; but our party was large enough
"Out'ote them, and we staid as long as
chose, taking the bearings of the
fAee' watching the course of the stream
moving lava (best seen from above),
'Ad enjoying once more the magnificent