The Washington times., 1922-10-15

destroyed by lava that Is, molten rock
bdtWas covered with volcanic ash. There
were few, fires during its destruction. The
rain Of ashes felI steadily upon Il, chok-
ing up the streets as with snow drifts, and
iiltering into the houses and temples. The
weight, Of course, caused the roofs to
give way, In many cases carrying down
the walls with them.
But before the fall Of ashes stopped
the WbSIe city was entirely covered and
this eoyerint has acted as preservative.
The eitr ~ literally packed up IN ash
and % remained for centuries. Disinte-
grafton through weather rain and
storms has therefore been slight. When
the spades of the excayators dig out the
buildlngn the paintings on their walls are
almost Is fresh as when they were the
delight Of the long dead owners. The
.fraghents Of walls and Of ceilings still
remain in place ready to be picked up,
put together and put back.
Even where only the pillars Of tenn
PIE remain II is not 80 difIicult for the
-archaeologists and experts to calculate
from the size Of these remaining columns
how high the roof was, what shape, and
50 on. ~.
The whole undertaking Is, indeed, very.
much like q gigantic picture puzzle, In
which the parts are broken pavements,
roofs, walls, columns, statues and all that
goes into the making up ofsa city.
To put together such picture puzzle,
those who work upon It must know archi-
lecture, the customs Of the old builders,
the size Of the buildings, and they must
have, besides, high degree Of constfuc-
tive imagination.
Il Is just such men whom the Italian
Government has intrusted with the work
Of rebuilding Pompeii
The actual ground covered by Pom
peii was not large according to modern
standards Of cities Its encircline walls
measured less than two miles. There,
were some settlements beyond the walls,
but the city proper probably covered
about the same space bounded BY Thir-
tieth street and Forty-fourtb street and
Madison avenue and Seventh avenue, New
York. 81
Yet if you will imagine this area COW
cred with volcanic ash for almost 1000
years, then excavated and its broken
houses, banks, churches, stores and even
garages being carefully assembled and
scientifically put together you viii have
Q fairly accurate idea of the task before
the Italian authorities.
And As they 60 along the city itself
provides them with information as to
what it was. It Is Is though the houses
themselves were speaking and telling what
they used TO be and just how they were
\ For INSTANCE. on one side Of the street
called the Via Abundantia, where most
Of the present work Of reconstruction Il
going on, there Is large warehouse
which belonged to cloth dealer whose
name, the inscriptions show, was Marcus
CaecaliuS Vereeurhius This man was
citizen Of considerable prominence be-
cause his name appears also on buildings
elsewhere In the city When the ashes
were removed from the warehouse Of M.
Vetecundus, the whole facade was found
70 be covered with brilliant paintings.
These paintings are not masterpieces. but
they give the scientists 4 perfect idea 81
what the inside Of Mr. Verecundua,e
warehouse looked like before the roof felI
IN and some Of the walls COLLAPSED.
2 Part. Of the ffescO was q friexe which
was an exact reproduction Of the inri1.