Valdez daily prospector., 1913-07-19
EXPLORING VESUvIUS.
4 Descent Into the voleano's Burning,
 Fumes Laden Crater.

4 Descent Into the voleano's Burning, Fumes Laden Crater.
 Although many tourists visit the volcano of Vesuvius and enjoy the grand and terrible sight, few have the daring or the physical endur- ance to descend into the depths of the crater. Suffocating sulphur fumes, redhot cinders, precipitous walls down which masses of rock are constantly plunging, are obsta- cles that only few explorers have overcome. The last to accomplish the descent was A. Console. He
 was accompanied by A. Malladra, who had been the second to explore the crater. Their experiences are described by Monsieur V. Forbin in
 La Nature.
 Tied to a long rope, which six guides at the top lowered inch by
 inch, the two began to descend the
 perilous slope. The broken nature
 of the wall, which was scanned with
 deep crevasses, made the downward
 climb extremely difficult, and the
 crumbling rock offered no secure
 grip or foothold. The heat soon
 became almost insupportable. MT.
 Console felt that his feet were ac-
 tually roasting, and thermometer that MT. Malladra carried register
 ed 179.3 degrees F.
 Finally the explorers reached the
 bottom of the cliff and halted near
 the Fumarole Mercali. This hole
 is probably the vent of the volcanic
 chimney that has been almost en-
 tirely blocked by years of accumu-
 lated debris. It constantly vomits
 forth clouds of white and yellow
 fumes that render the surrounding
 air unbreathable. All about this
 fumarole the ground is covered
 with a deep layer of hot white pow
 der mixed with gravel, into which
 the two adventurers sank almost to
 their knees.
 i As MT. Console was focusing his
 camera to take view of the crater
 the ground beneath him suddenly
 opened, and he sank to his waist in the redhot cinders. As his com panion was some distance away, he , had to effect his own rescue. Fortu- nately the end of the rope that had been used in the descent was within few feet of him. He managed to grasp it and by it's aid drew himself , from his precarious and painful situation.
 Every moment of their stay at , the bottom of the crater rocks were breaking from the wall and plung- . ing down about them. MT. Console, who had stayed near the foot of the cliff, had to keep lodging these dangerous missiles. One or two did strike and wound him. The suffo- eating heat and the noxious gases brought on strange sickness that caused him to reel in his gait and his heart to beat rapidly and vio- lently. A terrible fit of coughing and choking seized MT. Malladra who had stayed too long near the fumarole, and it lasted until he reached the top again.
 Naturally the ascent was far more difficult than the descent had been Although they had spent only twen- ty minutes at the bottom of the era , ter, they were so spent that they were several times on the point of fainting.
 Once, after scaling a perpendicu- lar wall of twenty-five feet, MT. Console thought that he had reach ed the limit of his endurance. Sum- monihg all his strength and cour- age, however, he dragged himself on. Looking back a moment later, he saw a small avalanche sweep
 over the exact spot he had just left. When the two explorers were finally lifted over the edge of the cliff they were on the point of complete ex-
 haustion.