314 Mount Vesuvius, 



Curious to witness as near as possible one of the most 

 astonishing phcenomena of nature, and forgetting the mis- 

 fortune of Pliny, I set out from Naples, ana at eight in the 

 evening I reached Portici. From thence to the summit of 

 the mountain the road is long and difficult. About half 

 way there is a hermitage, which has long served for 

 refuge and shelter to the traveller: — a good hermit has 

 there fix. d his residence, and takes care to furnish for 

 a moderate sum, refreshments, which to the fatigued tra- 

 veller are worth their weight in gold. The environs of 

 this hermitage produce the famous wine called Lachryma 

 Christi. — From the hermitage to the foot of the cave there 

 is a long quarter of a league of road, tolerably good; but 

 in order to reach from thence the crater, it is necessary to 

 climb a mountain of cinders, where at every step you sink 

 up to the mid- leg. It took my companions, myself, and 

 our guides, two hours to make this ascent ; and it was al- 

 ready midnight when we reached the crater. 



The fire of the volcano served us for a torch ; the noise 

 had totally ceased for two hours ; the flame had also consi- 

 derably decreased : — these circumstances augmented our se- 

 curity, and supplied us with the necessary confidence in 

 traversing such dangerous ground. We approached as 

 near as the heat would permit, and we set fire to the sticks 

 of our guides in the lava, which slowly ran through the 

 hollows from the crater. The surface of this inflamed matter 

 nearly resembles metal in a state of fusion ) but as it flows 

 it carries a kind of scum, which hardens as it cools, and 

 then forms masses of scoria, which dash against each other, 

 and roll all on fire, with noise, to the foot of the mountain. 

 Strong fumes of sulphuric acid gas arise in abundance from 

 these scoria, and by their caustic and penetrating qualities 

 render respiration difficult. 



Wc seemed to be pretty secure in this situation, and were 

 far from thinking of retiring, when a frightful explosion, 

 which launched into the air fragments of burning rocks to 

 the distance of more than 100 toises, reminded us of the 

 danger to which we were exposed. None of us hesitated 

 a moment in embracing a retreat ; and in five minutes we 

 cleared in our descent a space of ground which we had 

 taken two hours to climb. 



We had not reached the hermitage before a noise more 

 frightful than ever was heard, and the volcano, in all its 

 fury, began to launch a mass equal to some thousand cart- 

 loads of stones and fragments of burning rocks, with a 

 projectile force which it would be difficult to calculate. As 

 the projection was vertical, almost the whole of this burn- 

 ing 



