124 AN ASCENT OF VESUVIUS. 



which radiated from this mouth, but at a long distance it scorched 

 the face like a kitchen fire. The edge of the mouth was so sharp 

 and well defined that nothing would have been easier than to imitate 

 the example of Empedocles. Sometimes it is difficult to get near the 

 actual seat of fire ; but, in its present state, a person might have thrown 

 himself over the edge of the burning chasm without leaving a trace 

 behind. 



Several of our party did descend into the crater, and advance as 

 near the mouth of the aperture as the shower of lava permitted 

 them. Some ventured so far as to stick coins into a portion of the mass, 

 while in a state of fusion, and bear it away as a trophy and a 

 souvenir. For my own part, the wind shifted a little while I was in 

 this situation, and scattered round about me lumps of red-hot lava by 

 far too large to be agreeable. I thrust my stick through one of them 

 in order to carry it off, and made the best of my way out of so 

 unpleasant a vicinity. The* consciousness that a fountain of fire is 

 playing at one does not at all assist a man's coolness in climbing a 

 hill of cinders. If the ascent of the cone of Vesuvius is difficult, the 

 return from the inside of the crater is ten times more so ; and a 

 gentleman of undoubted courage, who had laboured hard and to little 

 purpose in order to be beyond the reach of the burning shower, 

 near which he had ventured, afterwards declared that at the time he 

 could not help thinking of the fate of Pliny the Elder. 



The whole crater is, indeed, most apalling and unearthly. The 

 rocks by which it is surrounded are formed by the action of fire, and 

 are like no other rocks which we are in the habit of seeing. They 

 are black, occasionally stained with blue or violet, and in parts caked 

 over with sulphur, which varies from a sickly white to a faded pink. 

 At times the colour of the incrustations is blended with that of the 

 lava, and from the mixture is formed a displeasing green, like that 

 produced by mixing together gamboge and Indian ink. Gray ashes 

 and dirty yellow pumice stone are thrown together in heaps that 

 seem formed by a sudden rush of wind, or the action of flame ; and, 

 on looking round, the whole scene produces upon the eye the same 

 distressing effect that a succession of discords does upon the ear, or a 

 disgusting taste upon the palate. 



It is possible to walk quite round the crater, keeping on the very 

 brim nearly all the way ; but the ease with which this tour will be 

 accomplished depends very much on accidental circumstances. If 

 the air is dry and calm, and the smoke rises perpendicularly, little 

 difficulty will be experienced ; but if rain has fallen, and the wind 

 be gusty, the traveller will be suffocated with brimstone, and sink 

 knee-deep into ashes and filth. 



The descent from the summit of Vesuvius down to the place where 

 the donkies had been left bears a nearer resemblance to flying than 

 to any other method of locomotion. The ashes are so soft and yield- 

 ing that any resistance they may offer to the foot is scarcely percep- 

 tible. At every step you slide on a yard or two. The most amusing 

 plan is to run down headlong and fearlessly : the worst that can hap- 

 pen is a roll in the soft cinders. The whole descent is generally ac- 

 complished in three minutes, and might be performed in less time if 



