Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-07

ping at Milan, Venice and Florence, found
warm weather (what sought) at Rome, the
sightseer's haven. l expected much enjoy
ment during the Carnival, which began
February 7th with professions of maskers
in the Gerso, throwing Of coriandoli Qittle
pellets made Of inns and -four, which sting
if they hit you in the face, and SO necessi-
tate wearing a mask on the streets an ex-
hibition of italian and foreign wines and
grand nrasked ball in the evening. l
confess 1 not az all entertained and
think the italian people easnJ amused.
Crowds of maskers walk up and down the
CofEr in sort of an aimless fashion, look
ing to see soIn5thinE and trying to provoke
merriment by absurd a5ticns and contor-
tions of the body drive every un1nasked
person off the street, while those in the
balconies deluge you with flour and even
lime you pass along. The non-success
this year is due to the great depression in
trade, which is prevalent all over the CONT
nent, and especially IN Rome, and to the few
Americans and English travelling, who with
their money are an important factor to the
Carnival. OF course st. Peters cathedral,
the Vatican, Coliseum and Catacembs are
standard attractions of never failing interest
and study.
+ Naples, the largest city in Italy (493, 900
innabitants), is also the hlthiest and in
taxing me pssfi6 if this particular well earns
it. 1t is beautifully situated and COM
mands grand view of the Mediterranean
sea, but otherwise is of little interest
to the general traveller. Kid gloves are very
cheap here. The best ladies' -four buttons)
cost 215 lire (ifty cei1tsl per pair, gentlemen's
two button selling at two lire forty cents.)
Cab hire is ridiculously low, drive from
any Gre part of the city to the other beng
fixed by law at -eventy centesimi fourteen
cents for either one O two persons. The
adjacent country is wonderfully Fopulous
] Three towns within twelve miles of Naples,
on the li.1- 70 Pompeii, have nearly one hun
dred thousand inhsb:;tenta.
Pompeii historically most Interesting, is
charmingly situated near the base of Fesuvi
us, fifteen miles from Naples, with an ex-
quisite view of the Mediterranean at the left
(the Albino range of mountains rising at the
back), and consists properly of six houses,
one of which is the Hotel Del Soleil, at
which | am stopping. The accommodations
are decidedly primitive, as might be inferred
from tbs price. f'pension" costing five lire
(ninety-five cehtEf per day. This includes
room, wine, light and attsn5snse, the third
meal of the day being five course table
d'hote. The cooking would recommend it
self to many of our fashionable hotels. l
have been enjoying myself immensely gal
loping around the country on the back of a
little mustang. whose reputation Tor tough
ness have thoroughly tested, especially yes
terday, when I took thirty mile ride to Sor-
rento, along the beautiful coast OF tbs Medi-
terranean nearly ell the way to that town,
passing the most luxuriant fields of lemon,
orange, 0Hi?65 somegranate, fig and aloes
trees Vegetation Is blooming here under
the influence of the very mild temperature
and warm sun, and the birds in merry carols
announce the approach of summer. Spring
is ce~tain1y delightful time of year to visit |
the country. OF sourse I tFdid" the ruins, |
but was more interested in the recent exca-
vations, which are made by btEF, under the |
supervision of three men, the former rseeiv- |
ing seventy-fve centesini Fifteen cents) per i
day wages. Valuable discoveries made |
daily and it will be some time before all the |
secrets of the ancient city are disclosed.
Most of the travellers who ascend Vesuvius |
90 by the railway, which takes them near the |
top, bnt three Americans Zone LADY, and !
myself decided we could enjoy the trip bet |
ter to walk it. Riding Eve miles to the base |
of the best point to ascend, the side where |
the lava is flowing, we We're beset with i'm |
portunate guides who would not take no for /
answer, snft who were insulting in their |
demands and actionSi saying the land was |
theirs and we must take their profered as |
sistance Having one guide, this NC refused |
to tf~ sn9 commenced cur journey upward. i
The surfaGS lszer being OF ashes and fine |
dust, our progress wss slow and climbing |
very difficult. The side being nearly perpen-
dicular, our course had to be a zlg-zs9 one,
and then often slipping back one foot in eve
~ two we gained, our strength was greatly
taxed We got to height of one thousand
feet when one Of the party, more corpulent |
than the rest, had to take two guides, who
had instsfad on following us in spite of our
refusal to hire thRin. The lady got her
:. A American up and pluckfiy kept on walk
ing. Progressing slowly over rough Java
beds after four hours of hard labor We |
reaftth~d the red-hot stream of lava flowing
down the 5iSs IF tbs mountain at the rate OF
about % feet per ifii33rtFts. the upper crust
cooling after it had gotten aio0Us tuo hundred
fror1, ho Of ]
the size of Vesuvius another bed of lata. !
The heat near the streams (there We're four
that day, although varying and generally not
so many was intense, and withdrawing to
we sat down upon 8 crust evidently
recently formed as it had not yet cooled, and
ate our lunch The best description ! can
give of the lava is that it resembles mass of
iron heated to liquid state surging down
ward in the shape of huge fsrt@ding about
five feet in width and one in depth.
The climb from this point to the actiFs
crater lit has been unusually so for the last
month"; is made doubly hard by the sulphur
Gus fumes which envelop you till you al
most reach the top, being almost sitting in |
their strength and binding in their density.
When the traveller gets to the top ne forgets |
everything in the awful and grand magniti-
cence of the scene presented to. his view
The sullen roar of the crater, as with noise
like the explosion of cannon it shook forth
red-hot stones and boiling masses of lava
weighing thousand pounds to height of
three hundred feet; painting which seems
to express the anger and fury at being con- |
centrated into 50 confined a space, and de- |
sire to break loose and again wseak vengeance
on mankind; flames shooting upward in all /
sorts Of fantastic shapes, gases and steam |
Kissing as they come out of the depths-all
these create din which in beholder creates
a feeling of awe. Il the wind is favorable, |
as it was the day we were there, you can |
look downward and often catch hasty Gllmp- |
ses of the very insides of the crater with its |
yawning mouths, its interior red-h from !
the excessive heat and possessing sort OF
horrible fascination. I was very much sur
prised at the shape of the top, which is a
cone with two mouths elliptical i'll shape, sit
uated on the sides at an angle to each other, |
the one on the right being nearer the top |
than the other. Imagine to yourself your |
very worst idea of hell and you can apprecl- |
ate something how the interior of Mt Vesu-
vius appears. I don't think I should have
been frightened OF surprised if I had seen
winged and horned creature fly out and ap- |
pear before our vision, as that ht would |
have completed picture which can but |
come to your thoughts at such a time. After.
feasting our eyes long time would per-
init OH one of the grandest sights of Europe, |
we commenced the descent, easily made, ar- |
irving at the hotel at 5 p. m. I go from here
to Rome to see the last two days of the car
nival thence to Pisa, Genoa, Turin, Geneva,
Paris, London and Liverpool. E. L. G.