Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-04-23


tnred up the slopes grew more awful
Peasants between Tore del Greco 7
and Tore del Annunziath had seen
smoke pour in volumes out oil the
Atrio del Cavallo. A herdsman on
the mountain saw the pastures rent '
and the sweet herbage turned INTO l
raging blast furnace. Sontolo di 81 !
none ventured some way to ascertain
the truth He saw the ground cleft
in divers places, out Oi which poured
smoke and flame. While all the ar
was filed with ;hunderous reports.
and great stones cast out of the fiery
gulfs we're hurled about the slopes
meantime dawn in Naples was at
hand; and as the light Increased
men going about the common affairs
of their existence began to take note
of an extraordinary cloud which huhs
above vesuvius, having the precise
shape of a gigantic pine tree some
wondered and some feared. hut none
understood what was the terror
which had come upon them, ny Brac-
| cini, going into his library and taking
down his Pliny, read them that vivid
4 passage which described the sight
young Pliny saw when ne looked To-
! ward vesuvms from Misennm'
There, said Braccini. as he closed
/ the book, there, in the words OF III
centuries ago, is depicted wnat you
} see today
THAT pine tree has become awful
| NaanO1ftang now
, alive; and to some of those who Visit
! the city during an eruption 1t seems
> as If familiarity had bred contempt
| and caused the occasion 10 be regard
| ed as one of merriment, since IL
t draws strangers there in countless
numbers, and enriches every trader
s on the coasts But there is terror also
i in the streets when the shocks come
rapidly, when doors and windows rat
l. tie with continuous conclusions, anu
t all of the city reeks with sulphurous
d stencnes coming one knows not
l. whence.
,. ITO this natural and human fear
It there was added in the days OF which
Braccini wrote, the shock OF horri-
s BILE surprise. The people were not
d dreaming of eruptions. They thought
3 of them as little as did their far-dis-
n tant kinsmen. who occupied the love
If " shore when Pompeii was a city OF
IT the quick, not of the dead. That is
e what makes Braccini's tales so inter
e. esting. 1t reproduces for us. as near
n ly as possible, a picture of what musi
A. nave happened in the city streets ON
that morning when the elder Pliny
" came sailing from Misenum at the ur
is gent cry of Herculaneum for help
Il only to find his ships beaten to tht
in coast by hail of fiery stones.
r. THE Cardinal Archbishop of Ma
in pies was at Tore del Greco on tha
III fateful morning He hurried back tt
ell the city, and, having celebrated the
in sacrament and given orders for the
le rite to be solemnized throughout tho
as city. ne went up to the treasur,
as where the relics of the saints wer'
to kept intending to arrange solemn
procession.
IS found already liquefed and DoITrTg
is Great crowds accompanied the pro
cession, the superstitious Neapolitan'
rs turned to their priests and saints a
e. the first sign of danger and marched
lie behind the relics of effusion and piety
III the men scourging themselves till tn'
blood ran from their shoulders, the
women disheveled and weeping
while crowds of boys chanted the Lit
any with extraordinary tenderness
N The shops were shut. Naples nad
become a city of devotees.
r But San Gennaro, though his
p blood had boiled, was not ready tc
1t disperse the peril. The shocks ot
N earthquake grew louder. The con
n cussions ratified faster from the noun
W tain. Towards noon thick darkness
IS stole down upon the city. as 1t had
p upon Misenum 1900 years before
The smell of sulphur in the streets
1t was choking.
& Men asked themselves If so strong
s a reek could possibly travel from We
II suyius. and whether some vent mad
n not opened close at hand. The
e. houses. says Braccini, were swaying
|, like ships at sea, and in the air there
l. was horrible roaring sound, like
e the blast of many furnaces. The
, darkness grew more dense, and
It tongues of lightning flashed continu-
n ously out of the murky sky. The
L crashes became quite appalling.
Naples went wild with terror. The
= viceroy sent drummers round the
{ city, appealing to the people to live
d cleanly in that which appeared to be
Z the supreme moment of the creative
d world. Men and women. utterly un-
9 known to each other, ran up and en-
; braced, seeking comfort and crying
4 'Jesu misericordia!'
2 so passed the first day of the re-
> awakened activity of Vesuvius. The
| night brought no abatement of ter
:. ror. Early in the morning the
) crashes redoubled The whole noun
. tain seemed to be springing into the
air, and all the surface of the earth
rocked like water in vessel which