St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-06-18

le1G Wnere the ashes ObScured them
eighteen centuries ago. The art collec-
tions of the Naples Museum, it will be
contains several of the
worlds greatest creations in sculpture,
including the Farnese Hercules, and the
Venus of Capua. The Pompeian collec-
ton includes articles of food and OBJ
jects in common use, together with |
tools of all kinds, musical and surgical
instruments, weapons, etc., SO that a
comprehensive idea of the life and
habits of the inhabitants of the ancient
city is readily formed.
AN EXCURSION TO vEsUvIUs.
We visited Vesuvius at night to avoid
the heat of day ascent, contriviag to
reach the summit of the volcano about
sunrise. First, we rode out through
Portici and Resina to the Hermitage,
which is more than half way up the
mountain and just below the observa-
tory. Then we rode on horses or dom
keys, or else walked, across rough
plain of lava to the base of the cone,
which is as far as the animals go. The
rest, and the hardest part of the journey
was performed on foot, or those who
preferred it were carried up in chairs
by stout mOuntaineers. The chairs are
mounted on poles, and these are car
ried on the shoulders of four men. The
guides were very numerous and great
nuisance. All of them carry leathern
straps with which to help pedestrians
along on their climb, and their atten-
tions are urged with pertinacity that
soon exhausts the patience of the trav-
eller. A good pair of legs and stout
stick are worth dozen guides, howev-
er, for the path is easily followed though
very steep and tiresome. [Since our
visit the new railway has been finished,
and visitors are now taken to the edge
of the crater without trouble or fatigue,
while a good carriage road has been
built beyond the observatory to the
base of the cone.
Arriving at the top, 1.-THE crater is
found to be great depression, twenty
or thirty feet in depth, and several
acres in extent. The sides are irregular,
and the bottom is covered with masses
of lava like frozen mud, chiefly black,
low by the sulphur, the fumes of which
exuding through fssures and cracks
are almost insupportable. Some of the
lava crumbles beneath the feet, causing
the visitor to reflect as he threads his
way across the crater with his handker-
chief to his face to keep out the horri-
BILE sulphurous exhalatiOns, as to the
tarrihle consequences of breaking
through the crust INTO the yawnlng
CULTS of molten rock which he knows to
be surging beneath him. Over on the
other side of the great crater is mound
or hillock, at the summit of which is
the present active crater, a hole perhaps
ten feet across, from which dense smoke,
fire and motion material belches forth
continually, or rather, so far as the solid
matter is concerned, with iutermittant
puffs, each pulsation sending a CARLOAD
of lava and stones into the air, and it is
this material that has builtup the mound
already described. At times the lava
overflows from the opening, and at
times of great eruptions it flows down
I l,n taif do in eff
such times new craters are often open
ed. 1t was possible at the time of Oul
visit to go within fifteen or twenty feet
of the active crater, and the Italian
lads who had followed us up the mouu-
tain to gather up unconsidered liri, oil
centissimi, would approach near enough
to place a coin in the lava. When the
coin is withdrawn a mass of the lava
adheres thereto, and this constitutes the
most proper certificate a traveller car
possess of his visit to the crater of We.
suvius. The view of Naples and its
matchless Bay had from the summit is
indescribably fine.
RAPID AND EASY
i An account of the visit to VesuviuE
would be incomplete without some
mention of our rapid method of descent
The surface of the cone is mass o.
volcanic ashes, which resembles grave
more than anything else. This mass
sustains itself at an angle as acute a,
the law of gravitation will permit. Into
the yielding material the traveller sinks
to the ankle. The upward path zig
zags along the steep, but in descending
one takes straight course, striking
out boldly directly down the incline
Here the laws of gravity come in again
Lift your foot and step lively. Th'
weight of your body does the rest. Yol
find yourself flying down the mountain
: with your footsteps ten feet apart, whil
trail of dust marks your wake TO
your friends above or below. A fal
would probably result in roll to tn
bottom, unless you succeeded in sitting
, down in the yielding mass very hard
, A fall on your face might result in som
, scratches, for the particles which form
. the insecure pavement of your pathwa.
: are awfully sharp as you have reason
t to know if any of them intrude them
5 selves over your boot-tops. A few
minutes suffice to regain the base of tn
cone, to climb which required NOR
, than an hour of hard, toilsome work.
VISIT TO POMPEII.