130 Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples. 



crystals of leucite intermixed, both fresh and farinaceous. 

 The labour of excavation is extremely small, yet the work 

 proceeds very slowly. It is impossible to imagine any- 

 thing more interesting than to watch the progress of the first 

 opening to day of the dwelling-houses concealed for 18 cen- 

 turies ; to be yourself the first to tread the street where last 

 the Roman in his toga fled from the impending fate. Among 

 the last discoveries which in 1827 I saw, was a fountain deco- 

 rated with shells precisely in modern style, laid out in patterns 

 with great taste ; but the extraordinary thing is, that not a 

 shell appeared to be broken ; and the whole resembles strik- 

 ingly the fountains of the town of Naples. Very near it were 

 found moist olives in a square glass case, and caviare^ or roe 

 of the cod-fish, in a state of wonderful preservation ; an exami- 

 nation of these curious fresh condiments has been published 

 by Covelli of Naples. These are preserved hermetically seal- 

 ed in the museum there. 



The public buildings of Pompeii bear the most perfect evi- 

 dence to the catastrophe of the earthquake under Nero. The 

 Temple of Isis has the following inscription : — " N. Popidius 

 N. F. Celsinus aedem Isidis, terrae motu collapsam a funda- 

 mento P. S. restituit. Hunc Decuriones ob liberalitatem cum 

 esset annorum Sex ordini suo gratis adlegerunt."" * A similar 

 inscription, not without interest, was discovered at Hercula- 

 neum, which I shall here insert, -f- 



IMP. CAESAR. VESPASIANVS. AVG. PONTIF. MAX. 



TRIE. POT. VII. IMP. XVII. P. P. COS. VII. DESIGN. VIII. 



TEMPLVM. MATRIS. DEVM. TERRAE. MOTV. CONLAPSVM RESTITVIT. 



I have already noticed the internal evidence which Pompeii 

 bears of this catastrophe in the overthrow of part of its public 

 edifices. From a large map of the Gulf of Naples, the dis- 

 tance of the nearest part of the walls of Pompeii to the sea ap- 

 pears to be almost a mile ; but we have perfect evidence that 

 the sea once washed its southern extremity. It is probable 

 that the course of the river Sarno is somewhat diverted to- 

 wards the east, since we have abundant reason to know that 

 the town was in the immediate vicinity of the river, so that 

 Cluverius placed its site about two miles too far east, at Sca- 

 fati. These changes are therefore owing to the ejected mat- 



• Swinburne and Lalande. t Phil Trans. 1758. Vol. L. p. 619' 



