The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29
TIE ACTIVE MOUNTAIN.

Tuesday afternoon. April 8, at half past 4
o'clock, enjoying the brilliant sunshine
and looking at Veeuvius across the bay
The usual insignificant white vapor that
every one Is familiar with was issuing from
the cone, and a more respectable or demure
volcano was nowhere in the world to DO
found. But as | looked a black cube sub
stituted itself for the white vapor. and was
slowly pushed up TO a seeming height OF
$50 feet above the crater, when II exfoliated
at the top like A great ebony caulifiower
and foated slowly way toward Capri be-
fore the northeast wind, It was the open
ing gun Of the eruption Of 1905.
A few intermittent puffs of black smoke
ensued, and the general attention was
visibly relaxed, when, at S, another black
column appeared, this time rapidly rising
to a height Of a thousand feet before it
spread out like a fountain and poured down
ward, OF an inky blackness, it rolled down
the cone, blotting out the funicllar and its
buildings. then the houses lower down, and
finally, reaching the sea, drew a dark purple
curtain over the whole southwark land
scape.
One could not but recall the phenomena
described as attending the great catastrophe
at Martinique, the black cloud that rose
from Mont Pelee, its furious descent upon
the town and the harbor and the fearful
havoc in its path. The black, dense purple
black, Of the Veeuvian cloud looked quite
as threatening. but happily II was not
charged with the same deadly properties
and contented itself by dropping as it trav-
elled q dense shower Of ashes. Resina,
Tore del Greco. Tore dell Annunziata,
Castellammare. all the pretty places with
! the pretty names, we're extinguished in the
great pail Of indigo which swept out to sea.
AS a spectacle it was superb, in~descr1bably
grand; but it was impossible to see II with
out ~misgiving. Immense black volumes
of smoke rose without intermission, until
near sunset, when the wind drew around
to the eastward, and Vesuvius and Monte
Somma. the bay and Naples itself all van
ished in an intense obscurity.
The next morning all was gloom. Be
meath the windows Of my rooIp lay the
roofs of Naples TRANSPORTED. H. was pre-
cisely as if they had been iced with choco-
late. Ar inch of volcanic dust had fallen
and had adhered To every visible object.
| This dust ia naturally a dirty yellow, but a
| light rain had turned n to q rich chocolate
| brown. The efect uas startling. The
waiter appeared with the coffee. Well
7 asked. how is the mountain this morn
! ing?" He shook his head: Il do not
know he replied in Italian. but the old
i gentleman appears to be very angry.
This seems 70 be a common manner OF
! a~lluslon 70 vesuvius. Mr.. Melllo. the cele-
brated ieweller in the Piazza del Martiri,
/ used the same expression later in the day.
| He and other Seapolitans to whom / spoke
did not appear to take it VERY seriously.
| Thev dwelt on possible damage from the
! ashes to VINEYARDS and gardens, especially
! If it should rain. but nothing more. | con-
J suited the morning papers, II occupied
no space. was dismissed with eassuring
Indifference On the ensuing day three
| columns we're assigned TO II; the next
day three pas es. and a day later the whole
paper. less the advertising. This, too, with
the most violent earthquake Of type, almost
equal in deprsvity 70 anything that we de-
! plore at home.
After the first hour or go on that Tuesday
Naples saw no more of Vesuvius until to-
dav, Tuesday. Everything in the direction
Of the volcano was shrouded in lmpene-
trable darkness. The wind shifted from
east TO north. but ii had no effect upon the
scene. The mountain in travail seemed to
control the air currents IN its vicinity. and
the immense volumes of vapor gyrated
slowly about It within a radius 81 perhaps
| three miles, the great mass ultimately
drifting TO the south and southwest.
On Thursday slight shocks. very slight
shocks. Of earthquake we're felt In Naples,
and on Friday Neapoltans who we're we'll
to do began TO prefer Rome or Capua. The
American. English and German tourists
reluctantly followed suit, and Monday
morning saw this city Of hotels emptied,
but with an increase in its population as
compared with a week ago of $50 900 souls.
Naples was good enough for the people Of
that ~populous region TO the west and south
of vesuvius, and Friday was their moving
dav. But for the tourist-"Vedi NopoE'"
Sure e POI muori'" Not much
On Friday great detonations were heard
in Naples, and on Saturday the excitement
became intense. No news could be had;
the telegraph and telephone operatives had
run away with the rest Of the inhabitants,
and from the fugitives only the most alarm
ing and chaotic stories could he gathered.
On Saturday the conditions became worse.
The explosions at the crater became more
FREQUENT. and in Naples they sounded like
distant artillery. The streets were filled
with fugitives in groups Of families, some
with carts drawn by donkeys or horses,
carrying the aged and infirm and such
household effects as they could bring.
In the afternoon the wind shifted to the
northward. revealing Monte Somma and
the various villages on it's slopes, and also
admitting Of a partial view Of the centre
Of the disturbance. The sPectac Gle afforded
vas extraordinary. Column after column
If the densest black vapor assembled per-
%pendicularly from the crater TO q height
VARYING from 5000 to 5000 feet, each effect
ing its ascent apparently undieturbed by the
wind. and only drifting slowly away to the
southwark, to be followed by a like dis
charge. Great ribbons of lightning darted
through the vapor, and there was constant
thunder. At Tore del Greco the scene
was precisely that described by Pliny the
younger when Pompeii was buried, and the
Appositeness and effect Of the words he
used and their entire fitness TO the present
occasion are most striking. Had he been
writing from Pompeii last Sunday he would
have expressed himself in much the same
! terms that he used in 20 A.. p.
: Every roadside shrine had its crowd Of
davo,,t pea ae IT'S pravinp fra ntiCellv TO the