78 Mr Forbes's Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples, ^ 



miles off. The sea retired suddenly, and it appears from the 

 expressions of contemporary writers that it remained apparent- 

 ly sunk for a considerable time at least, which is confirmatory 

 of the idea endeavoured to be demonstrated when we were 

 considering the level of the sea in relation to the Temple of 

 Serapis, * that a large portion of alluvial land at the foot of 

 Monte Barbaro was then elevated from the bed of the Medi- 

 terranean ; the fish which were laid dry were caught by coun- 

 try people, as well as the birds which were stunned by the 

 violence of the eruption. It is rather remarkable that several 

 streams of cold water should have issued from the base of the 

 mountain. The great mass of the hill was thrown up in a 

 day and night, though, as the eruption continued at intervals 

 for several succeeding days, very various accounts have been 

 given of the time in which this phenomenon was completed ; 

 while twenty-four hours -f- and thirty-six hours \ have been 

 most commonly assigned, some have assigned to it forty-eight 

 hours, § and Breislak, including the whole eruption, has ex- 

 tended it to five days. || The period of one day and night 

 is assigned in the following concise account in a very old work 

 upon Italy : " La Montagna Nuova, o le Cenere ; Mons 

 Novus qui Anno 1538, 29 die Septemb. cum ingens terrae- 

 motus esset, et incredibili vehementia fuerat spatio unius diei 

 et noctis succrevit, et adhuc magna cum admiratione cerni- 

 tur/** ^ After the principal eruption of the first and second 

 days, a temporary pause took place on the third, when the 

 clouds dispersing, showed, to the no small amazement of ob- 

 servers, the mountain, of a very considerable size, where for- 

 merly there had been a plain with a town upon it. On this 

 day some persons ventured to ascend to the top, where they 

 found a crater a quarter of a mile in circumference, ** in the 

 bottom of which stones were tossed about with great vehe- 

 mence. On the following, or fourth day, the eruption again 



• See last Number, p. 281. 



+ Sarnelli, Guida dei Forestieri, 1688. 



X Romanelli. 



§ Galaiid. 



II Campanie, II. 156. 



^ Ilinerarium toiius Italia:, Colon. Agripp. 1602. 



•• Giacomo di Toledo's Account, who himself ascended. 



