SCtfctfTlMC HEWS. 223 



A line of fire marked the profile of the mountain : a etoud fc™™*^ 

 of fmoke, which feemed to fend forth from time to time flames Mourn Vcfu- 

 of lightning, hung over the fcene, and the moon appeared to *iu«. 

 be pale : Nothing can adequately defcribe the grandeur of the 

 feene, or give an accurate idea of the horror of it. As we 

 approached the fpot ravaged by this river of hell, ruined in- 

 habitants having quitted their houfes — defolated families trying 

 to fave their furniture and provifions, laft and feeble refourcc 

 — an immenfe croud of curious fpeclators, retreating ftep by 

 ftep from the advancing lava, and teftifying by extraordinary 

 cries their wonder, fear, and pity — the frightful bellowing of 

 the mountain, the frequent explofions which burft from the 

 bottom of the torrent, the crackling of the trees devoured by 

 the flames, the noife of the walls falling, and the lugubrious 

 found of a bell, which the religious of the Camaldules, ifolated 

 on a little hill and furrounded by two torrents of fire, rang in 

 their dlftrefs. Such are the details of the frightful fcene to 

 which I was witnefs. 



The moment we arrived the lava was eroding the great 

 road below Torre del Greco. To fee it better we got into a 

 beautiful houfe on tbe road fide — from the terrace we faw the 

 fire at no more than fifteen paces from us — in a minute we de- 

 fcended, and twenty minutes afterwards there remained of the 

 houfe but three large walls. I approached as near as the heat 

 and flow of the current would permit me, I attempted at dif- 

 ferent times to burn the end of my handkerchief in it — I could 

 only do it by tying it to my cane. The lava does not run in 

 liquid waves ; it reiembles an immenfe quantity of coals on 

 fire, which an invincible ftrength had heaped up and pufhed 

 on with violence. When it met with a wall, it collected to the 

 height of feven or ten feet, burnt it, and overthrew it at once. 

 I faw fome walls get red hot, like iron, and melt, if I may ufe 

 the expreffion, into the lava. In its greateft fpeed and on 

 an horizontal road, I reckoned that the torrent travelled at the 

 rate of eighteen inches a minute. Its fmell refembled that of 

 icon red hot. 



Morning Chronicle. 



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