Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-15

nearly extlnguished crater. The Whole
place was sblaze with yellow brown
flowers, and full of gaseous, sulphurous
odors, which grew stronger as we fol-
| lowed the path across the crater. Pres
emily the
PRESIDING DEMON OF THIS INTERNAL RE-
GIoN
met US; good natured youth, with
bare head, wild locks and begrimed
face. without word he picked up
large stone, foot or so in diameter, and
let 1t fall from his hands. 1t dropped on
the ground with peculiar, hollow thud;
the demon looked TO see if we under
stood; we did, and felt uncomfortably
| conscious that the earth on which we
stood was but hollow crust. We felt
it hot under our feet; the sunshine
poured down heavy on our heads; the
yellow flowers glowed like flames,
and 1t seemed as if the sun
Are above was drawing up the
earth fire beneath through the partition
wall of soil. We soon reached hotter
place still where the little open mouth
Of the crater is covered with an arch of
stone like an oven, through the open
earth was saturated with gas and de-
cidedlY Internal smell of birthstone
filled the air The demon crawled to
the edge of the hole, and leaning in half
his length fished up for u some speoi-
mems of sulphur and hot rocks of beau
tiful colors. Only twelve yards below
us fire and water were fighting for the
mastery. There Is
SOMETHING sUPERBLY
terrible in the thought of that mighty
struggle between the two great elements
continuing for ages! Through some
dark subteranean passage the water once
forced its way to the heart of things, and
there found its mortal enemy; and hav-
ing once gone there it must ever continue
to flow in upon the angry flames and be
forced upward through the earth in
steam.
All volcanic eruptions are now thought
to be caused in this way; it is known that
Vesuvius threw up vast quantities of
boiling water at the time when Pompeii
and Herculaneum were destroyed, and
another significant fact is that volcanoes
are always near the sea.
PoZZuOll was once the most important
commercial city in Italy, and still has
some lG 200 inhabitants. St. Paul once
spent a week here. 1t is chiefly .balitQn
a projecting point of land, frQA Wheness
you look across to the far-reaching arm
of land enclosing the bay q Naples on
the north, aud terminating in the oapeP
of Mlsenum. In the hollow e thatrdrm
Is Baiae. The finest view isa
from the old amphitheater on tbasl
hill above the town. Old amphitheS
aters are generally satisfactory,
this one particularly so far it is so well
preserved. 1t is satisfactory to see the
scene of such brutality in ruins; TO see
ferns and masses growing in the wild
beast den, pretty green lizards in the
emperor 8 seat. This theatre at Pozzuoli
was very large and fine one, which
could be flooded for naval eombats. II
was here where Nero himself entered tine
arena during the great gladiator combats
he gave in honor of his guest, the king of
Armenia; here too was where ST. jan
uarias was
THROWN TO THE WILD BEASTS,
but the beasts refused to touch him, so
the saint was put to death near the Solfo-
tara. One of the cells under the arena has
been converted into chapel ond dedi-
Gated to him. Down in the town there is
q temple of Scraps which affords a
curious proof of the rise and fall of the |
sea level in the past 1000 years; this is
registered on the pillars by incrustations |
of shell fish. Cireo had villa near here, |
marked now only by few stones.
Beyond PozZuoli our road followed |
close to the sea, with fine view all the |
way, till we came to little tavern where |
we were seized on and implored to take /
dinner; We had brought lunch, how
ever, as every body is advised to do in |
making trips about Naples, so we turned
directly inland to the lake of Avernus.
The fearsome lake AYernus! Across which
no bird could fly and live; the place
where the "'pious Eneas, - lead by
the sibyli, made his solemn descent
to hades! But why is it that the feel
iugs you want to feel are never on hand
at the right time? The lake of Avernus
struck me as only commonplace sheet
of water, surrounded by regular rim of
high ground which makes it look like the
bed of an old crater. 1t is rather
dreary place, but by no means grandly
desolate as you would imagine place
haunted by such traditions. Virgil
does not mention whether Eness
got his feet wet in descending
to hadeS, Dut IL Is certaln tnat ira
modern tourist must either wade into the E
grotto through pools of water or be car
ried on the back of guide. We did motif
attempt either, but returned to the RsSae
road, past ancient hot bsRhazaffH ire u
luented by invalids, and were sooHN
around the curve of the bay in tiki
pathetic tumble of ruined templesSAnd
baths, and villas aud bits of Mosaic
pavement, once the
MOST PALATIAL AND FASHIONABLE WATER
ING PLACE
n the world. Barbariaus, malaria and
Poor Baiae has payed
veil for her season of glory by ages of
And yet I doubt not but
The is just as lovely as when the Roman
quoted by Horace said, "Nothing in the
world can compare with the lovely bay
If Baiae. In a moment of weakness
We allowed ourselves to be taken possess
ion of by q guide, and were conducted
Up a little winding path between vine
yards leading us out on top of some ruins
where the whole glory of the scene
ay spread around beneath us. Behind
is was the lake Fusaro, beyond that the
ea; little to the north on the west
coast, the site of ancient Cum@; to the
outh, the far-extending point OF
disenum where Hneas lost bis pilot | !