Year: 1869

A correspondent of the Pal NAL Gd-
zette has been to look at Vesuvius, to see
for himself what the eruption of volcano
is like. He finds it sufficiently terrible.


He went up on the mountain and stood
upon tho lip Of the crater, and pecped into
the roaring abyss on one side, taking adj
vantage of a strong wind that was driving
all the suitUClting steam and vapOr TO the
other. He thus describes the scene:


At the edge of the crater you behold a
scene full of awe and majesty. The sud
denncss with which you come upon it is
! quite startling Going up you neither see
nor near anything. One moment you are
clambering up the side of the cone
amid profound silence; the next moment
as yOur head rises above the crater lip
you encounter n roar and blaze which
makes you shrink back little The sur.
prise is occasioned, l suppose, by the
formation of the crater. 1t is n huge
bowl, which comes up to quite sharp lip,
about half mile in diameter and some
hundred yards in depth. Toward the bot.
tom of this bowl, on the opposite side to
where we stood, was great hole, from
which all the proiectiles of the eruption
were shot; the surface Of the bowl being
composed of Jumps Of lava, stones and



sulphur, precisely like those upon
which we were standing. AS you mount
| the cone there is between you and the
gulf an enormous wall which Culls
everything alike-for eye and cor. Even
! while on the sleeps of the cone itself YOU
| might be unaware that the mountain was
disturbed. But q single step seems almost
enough to transfer you from the mos
deathlike stiffness to the grandest eXhibi
! ton of force it is possible to conceive. In
! stead of the monOtonous duh black OF con


realed Lawn on The lower levels, you have
| a brick red of stones that have been under
the action of fire, the brightest VcrmlioI
and every imaginable shade of orange and
yellow that sulphur deposits are capable o.
taking. The ground is hot, too; so hot
indeed, that you cannot keep your foot OF
the same spot for many seconds together
Between the chinks Of the stones you cal
see that few inches below the surface
is actually red hot You thrust in the enc
of your stick for moment, and you pul
it out charred. Over all the further hal
of the crater there hangs dense cloud o
smoke and vapor all around you there il
an atmosphere OF sulphur which sets you
coughing; from numhcrlCss small hole.
about your feet there issue, with hiss
sulphurous Jets Ct steam, which nearly
choke you rs you pass over them; anC
then, as you look down into th'
actual abyss, you are face TO fac'
with the most appalling pheno
menR both of ght aud sound, which
perhaps, the whole OF Europe had t
offer. Among the crowd of strange sensa
tions that are eXpeTieSced at such time
the phenomena of sound are perhaps tn


most wonderful of all What meets tn


ear is, if anything, more terrific than wha
meets the eye. Even to sight the eruption
is not exactly what the Imagination paint
it beforehand. IL does not consist, as tn


pictures necessarily lead one to suppose
of a continuous shower at all. Still less
does it consist of a continuous shelter O
black ashes shot out from fire blazing o.


the top of the mountain; it is rather


series of explosions. But the roar an


glare of the great abyss is continuous
You look into the pit, and though yO


see no actual flame, yet its sides are in


state of constant incandescence from In
mouth of il there roars up necessarily


dense cloud of steam, and in the depth
St 1t below you hear the noise of prepars
ton for the outburst that is next 10 comt
Then you hear q sharper crackle, and theI
without further warning, follows a lou
explosion, which shoots into the air


torrent OF white hot missiles of ever,
shape and size. So enormous are tn
forces at work that not only small piece
of stone and sulphur, such as you Nigh
carry away as mementoss Of you
! visit, but huge blocks of minera
each enough to load railwa
ballsst-wagon, and all in a state of pei
fectly white heat. are tossed up as thaug
they were so many cricket balls. The g,
plosion lasts, perhaps, no longer than
, minute and then there Is a cessation {
some seconds with the noise only of il
ternal preparation once more, after whic
the explosion Is repeated. So It goes o
again and again as long as the eruptio
continues. The noise that aecompani,
the projection OF these enormous missile
which from below seem to be shot M /
profound silence, is something quite will
out parallel in ordinary experience. Or
OF our party said be had been shipwgeckS