The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-21

only about eight feet long by one foot in
width. A party of Americans, accompa-
MED by guides, had started up from the
pretty little town of Tore DEF Greco one
summer evening in 1856. They were far
enough up the mountain by sunset to have
view of the superb panorama of bay and
distant hills and islands. As the brilliant
rays of Gods lantern were falling behind
the little island of Capri away off over
the blue stretch of inland sea, the party
camped on the grassy plains for supper,
washing down the viands with Lacrima
Cristi, red wine made of grapes grown
on the lower borders of the volcano.
Darkness had alresdy fallen when the
band of tourists resumed their way to-
wards the blazing crater Two ladies of
the party We're carried i'm chains swung
from the shoulders of the guides, the route
thenoeforth being too rough for donkeys
to climb. Other guides walked about with
blazing torches made from pine branches.
The procession trudged slowly along, the
Americans trying to dispel the solemn and
weird effects of the scene by singing roll
licking songs. Ever and anon a thunderous
rumble interrupted the chorus; a flare of
unearthly flame lighted up the scene, max
ing dense and appalling shadows, and
crash of falling pebbles and lava added to
the grim suggestiveness of the ensemble,
frequent shifting of the wind forced
down upon the pedestrians dense curtain
of sulphurous smoke, that would have
needed less than a minutes continuance
to suffocate the entire party.
While they were making their way slow
ly across the boulder-strewn ground,
lull occurred il the song that was being
sung by thoSe in advance During that
brief interval of silence a loud, despairng
Shrek was heard. 1t came from the rear
of the little procession. The chain-car-
riers set their burdens on the ground and
joined by the other guides, dashed in the
direction whence the cry had come. About
fifty yards away they found one of the
party, young man from Baltimore lying
prone on the ground and grasping desepr-
ately at the rocks, charred TWICE, or what
ever was near him. BY the light Of their
torches, one guide found that the man had
fallen half way through a crevice in the
earth. Each movement he made 10 save
himself widened the edge of the aperture,
and in less than forty seconds more he
would have fallen into the gaping hole.
The Nesuvlans hauled the poor fellow
from his terrible predicament 1t was
many minutes before he recovered his
speech. Then he said that as he was
strolllng along he saw what he thought
was long burnt log lying on the ground.
He stepped upon it-or, rather, meant to.
Instead, he placed his foot within the mar
row assure and the whole weight of his
BODY Tell above the open space. He felt
himself sinking gradually, and was just
losing consciousness when rescued.
The horror of the possibility was mag
niied when all the party gathered about
the spot, and one of the guides let a stone
drop into the aperture. Every man and
woman in the party stood silently intent
straining their ears to fathom the depth
of the hole. They waited in vain, horror
depicted on every face.
This was the first time the new fssure
was discovered by the men who climb We
suvius every day of their lives. Since
then 1t has distended, until the wonder
now is that the old crater has not fallen
long before this, the earth above and
all around it being hollow and unsup-
ported.
night journey up the burning noun
tain has its risks, but the solemnity of
the scene witnessed far exceeds the sight
presented in the daytime, and amply re-
| pays all hardships. In the daytime one
can ride on the famous funicular railway,
| that has been made the theme of one of
| the most popular of the Neapolitan songs.
IL carries passengers to within Few hun
dred yards of the crater. The rest of
| the journey must be made on foot through
sea of sand, that forces one back at
least one stride for every two taken for
ward On the top one has such q view as
is, perhaps, equaled nowhere else on earth.
Just below, glimmering under the cloud
| less sky, lies that cerulean bay Joining
at the tip of the Sorrento cape, with the
| Salernian sea. Naples nestles i'm its hilly
cradle to the right, and the whole aspect
looks more like an exquisite picture than
| reality.
The volcano itself, however. looks simply
grand and unique; but it's stupendous
majesty loses much of the appalling char
acter that invests II when all else Is dark
around. At such a time the beholder
erouches tremblingiy on the narrow tip of
| earth that overhangs the giant caldron
| seething, Kissing and roaring, as it's inter-
mittent humor runs. Every half minute
IL eXpels tons upon tons of molten stones
and lava; and as the flames force their
mammoth cargo upward a mighty roar
| shakes the night and the earth on which
one rests quivers like a sail in the wind.
About fifteen feet below the edge is a
ledge of sand, narrowing the upper diam
| eter of the colossal basin about eight feet
all around the circumference. This inner
| border of the crater shuts off ones vision
at a right angle but looking further out
one sees below such a spectacle as men
imagine of hell. Flames, flames, flames
everywhere-nothing but flames. "Of all
| sights on earth" wrote a famous German
| traveller, "the crater of Vesuvius is the
| graudest and most terrifying"
This is a skeleton description of what
| the volcano looks like when Il is placid or
| In its normal stale. No man knows what IL
must be like II seen nearby In one of It's
| periodical eruptions, for the bravest guide
In all the country round shuns the noun
tain above the grass line at such times as
| he would the worst of pestilenees And
naturally no other man would be so fool
| hardy as TO risk am ascent when the great
giant is in anger
On night in 1878 an eruption suddenly oc-
Cured, and without the usual warning
when band of guides were up the noun
tain with a party Every man in the lot
| turned and dashed madly down to safety.
| 1t was fun hour later when they ceased
running. BY the side of an old hut called
the halfway house, remote from ordinary
risk, they counted noses and found that
every one was safe. Then they resumed
their way down to the village al the foot.
When near the bottom they encountered
! four Swiss who were starting out to climb
to the summit. The guides notified the
| strangers that an eruption had suddenly
occurred, and tod them to turn back
This the men from the land of the Alps
refused to do. Despite the warning of the
guides they continued on their way to the
top. That was the last ever seen alive of