AN ASCENT OF VESUVIUS. H9 



constantly attaching 1 itself to the train. The whole suite holds together, 

 some near at hand, some further behind, till at last they are all extin- 

 guished at once by the Palace of Portici, whose gates they cannot enter; 

 and the traveller shoots on, a comet no longer, happily for himself, 

 merely a simple star. The crowd of mendicants is certainly calculated 

 to excite commiseration, did not a stronger feeling of disgust arise, 

 that such frightful objects should be allowed to shock the public view. 

 They are not mere paupers, but consist of the blind, the maimed, the 

 mis-shapen, and the shrivelled; and one woman exposed a head that 

 possessed only the remains of what once had been eyes, nose, and 

 mouth, without the trace of a single feature that was human. 



At Resina, the village which joins to Portici, the first stage of the 

 excursion ends ; and arrangements must now be made for the part 

 which is to follow. You drive into a sort of stable-yard filled with 

 mules, donkeys, and ponies, all ready saddled and bridled, both for 

 ladies and gentlemen. An immense hubbub immediately takes 

 place. Every donkey-man vaunts the praises of his own animal, al- 

 ternately in broken English or in as wretched French, and tries first 

 to conclude the bargain with you, and afterwards puts in for the buona 

 mano, or drink-money. At last, after rejections and offers, selections 

 and refusals, the party is mounted, and the procession sets off to its 

 fiery destination. Every donkey is provided with two attendants a man 

 in front to lead it when necessary, or coax it into a trot by the tender 

 name of Macaroni, Rosbif, Lagrima Christi, or whatever may be its 

 appellative ; and a boy behind, who is furnished with a long stick, 

 which he applies occasionally according to the directions of his su- 

 perior. The urchin also has his orders to employ another method of 

 improving Macaroni's agility, for, when the donkey begins to flag, the 

 boy immediately lays hold of its tail and endeavours to pull it back, 

 correctly calculating that the animal's perverseness will urge him 

 forward, and quicken his pace, better than any spur or whip what- 

 ever. But it is only fair to state that the Vesuvius donkeys are ex- 

 cellent, and go very well without any of these stimulants being applied. 

 They are strong, are not slow, and are very sure-footed a false step 

 scarcely ever happens. They are shod in a peculiar manner, as also 

 are the mules employed 'to carry wine, vegetables, &c., from the, 

 neighbouring villages to Naples. The iron is made to project all 

 round the foot, at least an inch beyond the hoof, so as to afford a large 

 surface to the sand, or mud, or ashes, much upon the same principle 

 as a snow-shoe is constructed ; and it also must afford a great pro- 

 tection to the hoof from stones, rocks, or pieces of lava. 



The cavalcade leaving Resina proceeds gently up the foot of the 

 mountain through the most beautiful country imaginable, and which 

 well deserves its title of Campagna Felice, or Happy Campagna. 

 The path- way, of course, is not very good, but on each side it is^lined 

 with vines, standard peach-trees, apricot, fig, and pear-trees, and with 

 every variety of shrubs that the garden can boast. And these are not 

 planted in formal rows or divided into sorts, but the whole is mixed 

 into one bunch of luxuriance. The hedges, which are made of lumps 

 of lava piled together, are at intervals surmounted with tufts of dark 

 green aloes, and here and there a flower peeps out, which is either 



