The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-20
(From the Century Magazine for
August. 1902

- IN comparison with the remarka bic
letter of Vicar-GeneraI Parel. detail
ing the circumstances of the eruption
OF Mount Pelee, it will be interesting
to our readers TO consider the descrfp-
ton OF the great catastrophe of Vesu-
vius in August, A. D. 70. as narrated
in the two letters of the younger PIiny
to the historian Taeitus, which are the
emily source of knowledge concerning
that disaster. The following transla-
ton of these letters. made by Profess
sor j. G Croswell, is taken from Pro-
fesor n. S. Shaler's volume, ASPECTS
OF the Earth" by permission of the
publishers, Messrs. Charles Scribner's
! Sons.
I The reader is reminded that it is
/ the elder Pliny, the naturalist. whose
! death is described in the first letter,
that the port of Misenum is the mod
! ern Baiae, and that the writer OF
| these letters was at that time but
eighteen years of age. The parts
, omitted are of complimentary ma
ture. The eruption began about mid
! Gay The height of the higher sum-
NIT of Vesuvius IS now 420O feet, that
| of Mont Pelee before the recent erup-
ton being 442S feet and that of La
Soufriere, st. Vincent, about 1000 feet
Editor Century.
Gaius Plinius sends to his friend
Tacitus greeting.
You ask me to write You an account
of my uncle's death, that posterity
may possess an accurate version OF
the event in your history.
He was a Misenum, and was in COM
mand of the fleet there. 1t was at one
o'clock in the afternoon of the oath of
August that my mother called his at
tention to a cloud of unusual appear
ance and size. He had been enjoying
the sun, and, after a BATH had just
taken his lunch, and was lying down
to read; but he Immediately called for
his sandals and went out to an emil
hence from which this phenomenon
could be observed. A cloud was ris-
ing from one of the hills lit was not
then clear which one, as the observers
were looking from a distance, but it
proved to be Vesuvius), which took
the likeness of a stone-pine very near
ly. It initiated the lofty trunk and the
spreading branches, for, as I suppose.
the smoke had been swept rapidly up
ward by a recent breeze and was then
left hanging unsupported, or else it
spread out literally by its own weight,
and grew thinner. 1t changed color,
sometimes looking white, and some
times, when it carried up earth or
ashes, dirty and streaked. The thing
seemed to the philosopher of impor-
Of inv
ton. He ordered a light boat to be
got ready, and asked ME to accom-
pany him if I wished; but 1 answered |
that L would rather work over my |
books. In fact, he had himself given |
me something to write.
He was going out himself, however.
when he received a note from Recti- |
ma, wife of Caesius Bassus, living in |
a villa on the other side of the bay, |
who was in deadly terror about the |
approaching danger, and begged him |
to rescue her, as she had no means of !
flight but by ships. This converted |
his plan of observation into a more |
serious purpose. He got his men-of- |
war under way, and embarked to help |
Rectina, as we'll as other endangered |
persons, who were many, for the shore |
was favorite resort on account of its
beauty. He steered directly for the
dangerous spot whence others We're
flying, watching it SO fearlessIy as to
be able to dictate a description and
take notes of all the movements and
appearances of this catastrophe as he
observed them.
Ashes began to fall on his ships,
thicker and hotter as they approached
and. Cinders and pumice, and also
black fra gments of rock cracked by
heat. fell around them. The sea sud-
lenly shoaled, and the shores were OBJ
;tructed by masses from the mountain.
He hesitated awhile and thought of
going back again; but finally gave the
word to the reluctant helmsman to go
IN, saying: Fortune favors the
,rave. Let US find Pomponianus."
was at Stabiae, separat-
d by the intervening bay (the sea
ONES in here gradually in a long inlet
With curving shores), and although
he peril was not near, yet as it was
n full view. and as the eruption in
reased seemed to be approaching. he
ad packed up his things and gone.
board his ships ready for flight, which
as prevented, however, by a contrary
ind.
|
lost favorable arrived. and did his
est to remove their terrors He en-
raced the frightened Pomponianus
nd encouraged him. To keep up their
oirits by show Of unconcern. he had
bath; and afterward dined, with real
:. what was perhaps as heroic. with
ssumed cheerfulness. But. mean
hile, there began to break out from
esuvius, In many spots, high and
flames, whose brilliancy
as heightened by the darkness of ap-
night My uncle treasured
lem by asserting that these were
Irning farm-houses which had
ught fire after being deserted by the
,asants. Then he turned in to sleep,
Id slept. indeed the most genuine
umbers; for his breathing, which was
ways heavy and noisy. from the full
lbit of his body. was heard by all
no passed his chamber. But before :
: sg.F4i