Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-18
The crater which destroyed pompeli and

I line crater WHICH utSiiOSto 'hiPtll anu
Herculaneum is extinct. It's work was
| done and was well done. and 1t has been
| gradually filled up by the overflow from
| other craters which have broken out since.
| Every few years there is "A break In the
side of the cone. To-day you can see the
last one, which opened in 1S99 and the
yellow color of the surface of the earth
| around it is due not to sulphur. as people
at first suppose, but TO- the heat still re-
| railway tells me that the rocks and the
| lava have not yet cooled although two
years have passed, and it is impossible
| to approach nearer than fifty or sixty
| yards on account of the heat. The tenn
perature of the lava recorded by the OBJ
| servers in 1899 was 200 degrees Fahren-
| heit | am not able to understand how
| the record was taken, but give the fact
| as stated to me.
| There was another and an even greater
| outbreak in 1895, from which flowed sew
eral stream of lava with roar resemb-
! ling the detonation of artillery. The
| roadway which had been built at great
| expense up the side of the mountain was
| buried under the foods of liquid lava AMI
| several hundred yards had to be rebuilt
| So far as can be ascertained, that crater
was only temporary, and has closed
| again; but the surface of the mountain
is 50 hot that it cannot he reached.
| Since 1872 there has been no eruption
| from the main crater at the top of the
| mountain, although a cloud of steam or a
| pillar of smoke continually rises. The eff
| 1ect OF the steam is indescribably beauti-
I ful It's form varies according to the di-
| rection ana the violence of the wind
| Nhen the air is still it rises from the
crest OF the cone like a titanic plume AT
! other times 1t takes the form of IA stream
| er, tapcring off into the sky far distant
| ara again II VIII settle about the summit
| OIL the mountain like a pure white cloud
| occasionally the vapor ceases and VOL
| ulnes of thick, blacl, smoke ascend which
| throw shower of SCOT over the sur
/ i,,t.
| names have been seen to shoot IN. and
sometimes there is a glow at the base
| or the column of smoke which is ex-
plalneG ny different people with different
NotW outstanding the long list of pubIi-
catlona by eminent scientists which have
| appear d since the art of printing was in
vented ,n the cause Of these phenomena is
| sun matter of conjecture and contro-
! Versy. he highest authorities believe
! tnat the pit of ire is Intimately connect
/ ca WITH the sea, and that the regular
column OF steam is due to the continual
, now now OF water from it into the surface
When Inc steam ceases and the black
smoke appears they assume that the
current of water has temporarily been
checked. PERHAPS by dislodrjng some
block OF earth or lava in the interior Of
the crater, and the smoke continues I'M
III the obstacle is removed. But all this
Is disputed and nobody knows anything
about it. There is also a theory based
upon comparison of observations that
Mount Etna in Sicily is connected with
Vesuvius underground, and that both vol
canoes are only two chimneys of the
same furnace.
In the neighborhood of Naples several
other volcanoes are quite active and
earthquakes and other terrestrial dis
!,urDanees frequently occur with more or
less destruction. There are hills upon
the campagna which have arisen from a
level pl me within the memory of men,
liner. Lhere are towns and cities lying in ruins
that have been shaken to fragments since
history has been an exact science. The
ruins OF temple to an Egyptian deity in
one of the neighboring villages on the
coast of the gulf has been submerged in
the sea several times. and then lifted
back INTO the air again by agencies which
can neither be controlled nor understood:
there are numerous hot springs and de-
posits CT sulphur and curious other freaks
of nature in the neighborhoOd.
There is swamp not far away from
which arise constantly vapors so poison
Gus that birds cannot fly across it without
being overcome by the fumes and falling
senselesS to the earth No man can cross
it, no animal can be induced to venture
near. and it Is a reflection upon the good
sense of the human family that jack
asses are more prudent in their move
mentS and more keen in their percep-
tions concerning these dangers than the
rest of us.
Within an hours drive of Naples is a
cave which no one can enter and live,
ioi thC Cdi poHlC S,ttS ISSUES ITOTn the
ground in such quantities that ne would
be overcome almost instantly. Ie y0u will
pay the price of his cruelty the guide will
throw in a dog and let you see the eff
feet, and / suppose there are NeapolitanS
who hold life at SO low an estimate that
they nigh, be induced to submit to the
experiment themselves. CHASTITY stories
are told of the innocent way in which
Nero, Caligula and other of those amiable
old eInpcrors used to amuse themselves
by throwing slaves, Christians and other
helpless people into these pits in order to
witness their death struggles. There Is
more or less fable and no doubt more or
less truth in all these yarns, bat there is
one thing in which the ancients were
pretty nearly accurate, and that is their
belief that the entrance to the Internal
regions was located within few miles of
Naples. The moral condition of the people
Still juStiiieS that belief.
The exact place is hole in the wall by
the roadside, not far from the foundrics
and armor pate works of Armstrong az
Co., the English gunmakerS. Within the
last century the place has been used for
the cure of rheumatism, and in several
chambers excavatcd into the rock the
heat is so intense as to throw the visitor
into almost instant perSpiration. man
stands there TO collect a franc from each
conner. There is always somebody to de
mand franc wherever you go around
Naples. Beside him is a little girl and a
smaller boy. and as soon as you enter
what may be termed the reception-room,
the yOunSSter Strips OIL MS Snlft, SeIZcS
little bucket. and, darling into a gloomy
looking passage, returns in a few mo-
mcnts with u sample of salt water from
spring which is already at the boiling
point.
The walls arc so hot that you canno'
place your hand upon them The man
lights a torch and beckons you to follow
him, advising you to stoop. because th@
temperature is lower near the ground,
and you instantly perceive ii as you creep
along. He explains in rapid Italian as h.
backs through the labyrinth and you fol-
low him %asping for breath until he
leads you around to the reception cham
Der, which seems much cooler than it did
when you left it.
it~w far the passages extend INTO the
earth cannot say, or whether they were
carved by the hand of man; but they lead
t. an amer chamber SIxty-hve feet from
| the entrance. in which the temperature
varies between 10 and $50 degrees Fan
| rcnheit and no one knows why 1t should
he less or greater at any particular time.
In the center of this chamber is the Doll
| ing sprins from which the boy brought
| the water
This was the "Lacus Avernus regarded
| by the ancients as the entrance to the m
fernaI regions, and through II AencaS was
conducted bv the sibyl to the PIT OF tor
ment. as described in the sixth cahto on
| Virgil" The place is also Described py
! Homer in the eleventh book OF the
| ..Odyssey." who says that among thc ra-