68 SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA 



As we ascended the upper part of the cone the red-hot 

 stones were falling to our left, and we determined to risk 

 a rapid climb to the edge of the crater on the right or 

 southern side, and to look into it. We did so, and as we 

 peered into the great steaming pit a terrific roar, accom- 

 panied by a shuddering of the whole mountain, burst 

 from it. Hundreds of red-hot stones rose in the air to a 

 height of 400 ft., and fell, happily in accordance with 

 our expectation, to our left. We ran quickly down the 

 sandy side of the cone to a safe position, about 300 ft. 

 below the crater's lip, and having lit our pipes from one 

 of the red-hot " bombs," rested for a while at a safe dis- 

 tance and waited for the sunrise. A vast horizontal layer 

 of cloud had now formed below us, and Vesuvius and the 

 hills around Naples appeared as islands emerging from a 

 sea. The brilliant sunlight was reassuring after this night 

 of strange experiences. The fields and lanes were deserted 

 in the early morning as we descended to the sea-level. 

 On our way we met a procession of weird figures clad in 

 long white robes, enveloping the head closely but leaving 

 apertures for the eyes. They were a party of the lay- 

 brothers of the Misericordia carrying a dead man to his 

 grave. Then we found our carriage, and drove quickly 

 back to Naples and sleep ! 



In the following March I acted as guide to my friend 

 Professor Huxley in expeditions up Vesuvius, now 

 quiescent, and to the Solfatara. Then suddenly, in April, 

 the great eruption of 1872 burst upon us. On the first 

 day of the outbreak some imprudent visitors were killed 

 by steam and gas ejected by the lava-stream. By the 

 next day the violence of the eruption was too great for 

 any one to venture near it. The crater sent forth no 

 intermittent " puffs " as in the preceding November, but a 

 continuously throbbing jet which produced a cloud five 

 miles high, like an enormous cauliflower in shape, sus- 



