Year: 1868




Last nights eruption of VesuVius was
very grand, for there were streams of
redhOt lava on the mountain side, and
the bursts of flame from the crater it.
fWere bright and inOessaut. Through
out the day Vesuvius had been crown
ed by an unusually dense cloud of curl
ing smoke, that rose in a column
thousands Of feet high, and moved slow
ly away before the wind like mon
strous white plume set in some giants
cap. There were lesser smoke clouds
on the mountain side to show where
the volcano was busy, but in the pleas
ant sunshine of Naples-the weather
has reversed it's character since / last
Wrote-eVerythiDg might be forgotten
save the blue sky and the sparkling
sea. As night drew on, however, Ye-
suYius became more and more cOnspi-
cuous. TIE crater began to glow with
it's dreary, fitful splendOr, and Streams
Of hot lava were to be seen like molten
iron pouring out of furnace. I might
we'll compare the whole mountain to
some great blast furnace Of our own
"black country" only that here the
iron which should come forth at the
base, when the doors are ierked open,
was brimming over the top Of the pile.
In former years there have been deadly
rushes of lava through the mountain
side, sweeping away houses and bury
ing vineyards out Of sight-the furnace
walls have given away. But this time
there is a less threatening action, with,
perhaps, a finer effect. The night set
Ties down; the smoke cloud catches a
crimson tint from the fires below, and
as 1 advance upon my way to Vesuvius,
there are still fresh streams of lava
swelling up from the crater.


Many foreigners have lately been to
see Vesuvius, he tells me. 1t is a great
sight-a splendid spectacle, now that
there is an eruption. As to the Nea-
pOlitans themselves, they are accustona-
ed to it, and it must be very wonderful
indeed TO astOnish them. Now we have
reached Resiua, the region of rapacious
guides. The paved echOing street still
stretches on before US, with It's coca
sional gas lights and armed patrols but
must leave my rickety little cab and
prepare for the ascent of the mountain.


With a torch and torch bearer who
knew his way by instinct, and who car
ried the flaming piece of wood as an
argument for OverchaTgiug, i am per-
We wound up among vineyards and
gardens, left good road for a worse,
and that worse road for mere track
across the rocks, and drew every mo-
ment nearer to the glowing furnace be-
fore US. At one time it was lost to sight
behind a shoulder of the great hillOCk
over which we climbed. Then the great
black cone OF Vesuvius stood ont once
more against the sky, and the flames
shot up from its summit as though fresh
fuel had been thrown into a furnace
The dismal glare of the mountain grew
broader and redder as we opened it tmore
fully into view. Surely they had emp
tied twenty furnaces on that slope,
which was covered with embers. We
left the vineyards and stray cottages,
passed beyond the last trace of eivili2-
ed life. and We're in a valley of desOla-
nf
id long ago, and of other masses still re-
taing their volcanic heat Dark, rugged
peaks rose on one hand, where Somma,
the brother mountain to Yesuvius, shut
out the northern sky, and on the other
hand was that terrible furnace. I say
on the other hand, because am speak
ing Of our entry tO.the valley. But you
viii imagine that no one could help IA
cling full round to gaze at the crater
There was something in fascination
like the effect of a burning house, only
the house was palace which lowered
to the sky, and magazine which had
strength to blow the whole city we had
left to atoms in the twinkling of an eye.
More rolling, sparkling, bounding rocks
are coming down the cone, another
flash from the dismal summit has made
all the cloud above it glow with Infer
nal splendor. We could as safely try 10
storm a battery defended by thousand
guns as climb up yonder cone of Nesil-
vius. There are locks upon 1t bound
ing like cricket balls, any one of which
would crush an elephant. il is all that
we can do to approach the foot of the
ascent, feeling cautiously for hot places
before we step forward, We must re-
turn TO those pale gas lamps and to the
city which they illuminate, and we
know that we must, but just for a mo-
ment Naples, with her half million in
habitants, might be a thousand miles
away. Nature is triumphant where we
stand.