NOME VII. VOLCANIC INTRITE. 



of its mouth ; but occasionally it is much en- 

 cumbered, and sometimes totally clogged. In 

 17^5, the bottom of the funnel rose so consider- 

 ably that it presented a vast plain, only 23 feet 

 beneath the brim ; and in the midst of this plain 

 was another cone, from 80 to 90 feet high, with 

 a small crater from which the eruptions pro- 

 ceeded. 



" Braccini has left us a curious description of state of crater, 

 the state of the crater of Vesuvius, after a long 

 state of rest, and before the grand eruption of 

 16J1. The whole of it, or at least its greater 

 part, had become accessible. Having himself de- 

 scended into the crater, he says he found it co- 

 vered with plants and trees, and that a road 

 down it was practicable for the space of a mile , 

 that at this depth a very deep cavern was seen, 

 which having passed, the way was again open 

 for two miles, by a very steep, but at the same 

 time very safe road, owing to the trees growing 

 near to each other. At length a large plain 

 presented itself, surrounded by a number of 

 grottoes and caverns, which might be entered, 

 but which the party were deterred from, on ac- 

 count of their darkness. This plain, which was 

 not accessible otherwise than by a very rapid 

 slope nearly three miles in length, must, assur- 



