254 DOMAIN XI. DECOMPOSED. 



he was witness of a part of that event. He 

 gave the king a memoir of his observations : and 

 a brief account is contained in a letter to one of 

 his friends, of which I possess the original, dated 

 15th October, 1751* and of which a translation 

 follows : 



c I left Turin on the 16th July, and only re- 

 turned within these few days. I was in the 

 valley of Aosta ; and I was in hopes of being in 

 Venice in September and October. But I was 

 obliged to turn back, and make a tour of 250 

 leagues in the mountains, to observe the pre- 

 tended new volcano, according to an order 

 which I received from his majesty. I confess, 

 that though I doubted the truth of the fact, 

 nevertheless, hoping that I had deceived myself, 

 I hurried with extreme pleasure to observe so 

 extraordinary a phenomenon. After having 

 travelled four days and two nights without halt- 

 ing, I came in front of a mountain all covered 

 with smoke; and from which were incessantly 

 detached, by day and by night, large masses of 

 stone, with a noise perfectly like that of thun- 

 der, or of a large battery of cannon; but still 

 louder and more terrible. The peasants had all 

 retired from the vicinity; and did not dare to 

 look at this ruin, but at the distance of two 

 miles, and even farther. All the neighbouring 



