Lesson xxxvi.] VOLCANOS. 269 



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Titus. Some of these have been very furious and 

 violent, desolating the country for miles around ; 

 and ships at sea, at the distance of sixty miles, 

 have, in some of these eruptions, been covered 

 with cinders, to the astonishment of the sailors. 



A great eruption of Vesuvius happened on the 

 12th of August, 1805: the following account of 

 it is given in an extract of a letter from Naples, 

 dated August 13th : 



" Yesterday, at ten o'clock at night, the erup- 

 tion of Vesuvius, of which the earthquake seemed 

 to be the forerunner, took place. We were going 

 to visit the crater when the cries of the people 

 and a volume of flame informed us that the vol- 

 cano had opened. The lava precipitated itself in 

 three seconds from the last peak of the mountain, 

 and took a direction towards the valley, situated 

 between Torre del Greco and Torre del 1'Annun- 

 ziata, two towns on the sea coast, beyond Portici, 

 and seven or eight miles from Naples. 



" We set off immediately to see this wonderful 

 and tremendous phenomenon nearer. From the 

 place of our departure, we saw the whole course 

 of the lava, which extended nearly two miles, 

 from the crater to the houses that join the two 

 towns. The sight was the most magnificently 

 frightful that could be seen. I contemplated the 

 cascades of flame pouring from the top of the 

 mountain, and shuddered at seeing an immense 

 torrent -of fire ravage the finest fields, overthrow 

 houses, and destroy in a few minutes the hopes 

 and resources of a hundred families. 



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