Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-05-22
EXPLORES CRATER
Of MT. VESUV|US
Professor MalIada and Assistant
Accomplish Daring Feat.
ARE AT BOTTOM TWO HOURS
One Nearly Faints From Intense Heat
and Acids Emanations Threaten
Both With Suffocation-
Scene Is Weird.
ARE AT BOTTOM TWO HOURS

Naples, May 20.-Prof. Mallada, the
explorer of the crater of Vesuvius,
will go down to posterity as the
author of one of the most daring feats
ever accomplished.
The intrepid scientist is endowed
with an impressive physique, a pene-
trating eye, an iron will and strong
character.
Contour OF Crater Changed.
The professor gave the following
account of his experiences:
"The last eruption in 1906 greatly
modified the internal formation of
the crater Previously it resembled
funnel with the wells sloping inward
at moderate angle to a central we'll
of such depth as to render the bot
tom invisible from any portion of the
crater's mouth. Subsequent down
slips during the eruption altered the
shape to one somewhat resembling a
| cup of which the bottom was visible at
certain hours of the day from the
| mouth The interior was more or less
| honeycombed with fumaroles, emit
ting abundant jets of vapor, mixed
with hydrocloric acid and sulphuret-
ted hydrogen.
Reach Immense Lava Beds.
with my faithful attendant, Andra
| Varavezza, 1 reached the mouth of the
crater, and first made fast a rope $50
| yards long, which, slung to our waists,
| enabled us partly by sliding and partly
| by hanging in the fashion of an Al
| pine climber to reach a depth of 40
| yards in the southeast portion of the
| cone, which from our observation l
| had decided to be the best point to
make the descent Here a lava ridge
slopes outward from the side cone
fully 100 yards. Travelling along this
| ledge, we reached immense masses of
lava, rock and other matter from the
crater slide of March, 1911, which
made a sloping angle of 80 degrees.
! 1--WE again made fast another cable
of 120 yards, enabling us to reach a
further huge bank of volcanic matter,
which was projected inward by the
same landslide
after two hours clambering we
reached the bottom of the crater, re-
sembling a gigantic ploughed field
Scene Is Weird.
cit is impossible to convey the
weird impression of the surroundings
the ghostly fantastic shapes piled
around us, the hollow resonance of
our voices, the heavy booming and
distant rumbling, as if the earth were
| grooming in physical suffering.
'Twice my companion nearly faint
| ed from the heat, which varied from
81 to SO degrees centigrade, and the
| emanations of acids from fumaroles
| threatened suffocation
eve remained two hours at the bot
| tom and took numerous thermometri-
cal and barometric observations and
made a collection of mineral and 9TH
er volcanic matter from which I eX-
| pect valuable scientific results.
'We planted a red flag in the cen
ter, which we found just 800 yards
from the level of the mouth.
"The return climb was more diff
cult and perilous than the descent,
masses of rock and ashes falling
round us as we toiled upward with the
aid of ropes several times threatened
to dash us to the bottom. After five
hours work we reached the summit,
pretty exhausted, but triumphant