Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-10-23

your Slgnts Dy the time the big party
arrives next day to begin.
Bound for Pompeii land of course YOU
have reread Bulwer's 'Last Days of
Pompeii, or will do it at once) we
skirt the Bay in our little train. pass
through numerous villages and more
orchards and vineyards, with vesuvius
ever in front and to the left-for we
are to wind around its base-over cold
lava streams that have reached into
these bottoms. and dust kicked from
the ashes in this dry season that might
be intolerable but for the pleasant
temperature. 1t is impossible to con-
ceive of the boon this ash brings to this
lazy people 1t squelches and scorches
smaller vegetation, and so there are no
weeds or grass except where irrigated;
In that case the gardens and meadows
are luxuriant. On the other hand, trees
and tall vines are not choked, but are
fertilized byit, and thrive in abundance.
The native has but three things to do
keep the ashes from recent eruptions
pulled up and back from roots of trees
and vines, forming recepticle for
watering; to lay out his irrigation
trench, and to pluck his fruit the year
around. The first of these three things
he generally makes the women and child
rem do, the second he assists the women
in doing, and the third the women and
children do. The master will blind
fold his diminutive donkey and make
him pull around the sweep that draws
the water all day for the trenches, and
the poor little beast goes on without
consequent dizziness or a murmur. The
master may himself market some of his
wares, buty may count on it he will get
the coppers that come in from all sales.
Like some of our seaside counties. all
sand, SO all the tillable land for miles
around Vesuvius is ashes sometimes
several feet deep. You see no virgin
soil.
We pass over buried Herculaneum and
through the streets of the modern town
built upon the pumice and ash that has
hidden city for nearly nineteen centu-
ries. For more than seventeen centu-
ries the site of the buried cities was
not known. In sinking a well for the
nobleman who owned the villa on the
sight of Pompeii a marble shaft and
then tiled floor were struck. 1t did
not take archaeologist and the govern
ment long to find that here was the
long lost Pompeii, nor to then easily 10
cate Herculaneum. Searchers had been
'deluded, because it was known that the
fated cities were upon the seashore.
Today the sea is two miles away. The
eruption and flow of lava caused the
sea to recede. The Italian government
owns now the sight of Pompeii and is
doing the excavating. Herculaneum, a
lesser town, has hardly been disturbed.
A new town rests upon its site. About
third, or fourth, of Pompeii is ex-
cavated, taking a hundred and fifty
years for this. 1t is estimated that the
entire town will be excavated within
seventy-five years. The sluggishness
of the Italian workmen is one cause. and
the care with which each basket of de-
bris is scrutinized is another reason for
the slowness of the work. The hundreds
of diggers carry the pumice and ash
out in hampers-up the bank to a
little hand car, which is pushed mile
away and dumped. Many streets (two
more than mile long) and blocks have
been uncovered, and wonderment here
is continually on the visitors counte-
nance To reap the fruits of your trip
and Pompeii above any one thing in
itself is worth trip to Europe-one
must have reputable and well post
ed guide. With him and the infornla-
tion you have read up or the history
that may still linger in your adult Eve
might have said addled) brain there is
opportunity for study and thought.
Pumice stone sometimes as small as
chestnuts and again as large as egg
plants. is of buff color. porous like
sponge, not unlike a sponge and almost
as light in weight. While revelry was
at its height and Christian captives were
dying in the ampitheatre there came
this rain of pumice stone-almost as
silently as the fall of snow and certain
ly no louder than hail storm. The
Heavens became darkened in midday,
and the inhabitants began to flee through
the -pelting hail. Finally, the low fiat
tile roofs of the packed houses began
to give way under the weight of pun
ice. and the fumes of poisonous gases
added to the difficulty of safe flight.
After the storm of pumice was ended
and silence brooded over a covered city
the black ashes that Vesuvius vomits
came and covered the lighter stone.
There were no tall buildings in those
days. Even the broad ampitheatre,
with its tiers of seats, and the columns
and temples were not fifty or sixty feet
high, and old Vesuve managed to oblit-
crate from the face of nature every
thing that pertained to this Sodom.
Before entering the gate in the wal
the visitor first comes upon what is be-
lieved will prove the cemetery of the
Pompei;ans. None of their tombs OF
graves have so far been found within
the city. Just outside, and few yards
from the one main gate excavated,
have recently been discovered the
monument and tomb of a nobleman's