THE EARTH. 



27 



assorted conjunction, present nothing but ob- 

 jects of desolation. Nor is this the worst, 

 for, as all places are covered over, many 

 caverns are entirely hidden from the sight, 

 into which, if the inquirer happens to fall, he 

 sinks to the bottom, and meets inevitable de- 

 struction. Upon coming to the edge of the 

 great crater, nothing can sufficiently represent 

 the tremendous magnificence of the scene. 

 A gulf two miles over, and so deep that no 

 bottom can be seen; on the sides pyramidi- 

 cal rocks starting out between apertures that 

 emit smoke and flame; all this accompanied 

 with a sound that never ceases, louder than 

 thunder, strikes the bold with horror, and the 

 religious with veneration for HIM that has 

 power to control its burnings." 



In the descriptions of Vesuvius or Hecla, 

 we shall find scarcely any thing but a repe- 

 tition of the same terrible objects, but rather 

 lessened, as these mountains are not so large 

 as the former. The crater of Vesuvius is but 

 a mile across, according to the same author; 

 whereas that of ^Etna is two. On this par- 

 ticular, however, we must place no depen- 

 dence, as these caverns every day alter; being 

 lessened by the mountain's sinking in at one 

 eruption, and enlarged by (he fury of another. 

 It is not one of the least remarkable particu- 

 lars respecting Vesuvius, that Pliny the na- 

 turalist was suffocated in one of its eruptions; 

 for his curiosity impelling him too near, he 

 found himself involved in smoke and cinders 

 when it was too late to retire; and his com- 

 panions hardly escaped to give an account of 

 the misfortune. It was in that dreadful erup- 

 tion that the city of Herculaneum was over- 

 whelmed; the ruins of which have lately been 

 discovered at sixty feet distance below the 

 surface, and, what is still more remarkable, 

 forty feet below the bed of the sea. One of 

 the most remarkable eruptions of this moun- 

 tain was in the year 1707, which is finely de- 

 scribed by Valetta: a part of whose descrip- 

 tion I shall beg leave to translate. 



"Towards the latter end of summer, in the 

 year 1707, the mount Vesuvius, that had for a 

 long time been silent, now began to give some 

 signs of commotion. Little more than internal 

 murmurs at first were heard, that seemed to 

 contend within the lowest depths of the 

 mountain; no flame, nor even any smoke, was ! 



as yet seen. Soon after some smoke appear- 

 ed by day, and a flame by night, which seem- 

 ed to brighten all the campania. At inter- 

 vals, also, it shot ofT substances with a sound 

 very like that of artillery, but which, even at 

 so great a distance as we were at, infinitely 

 exceeded them in greatness. Soon after it 

 began to throw up ashes, which becoming the 

 sport of the winds, fell at great distances, and 

 some many miles. To this succeeded showers 

 of stones, which killed many of the inhabitants 

 of the valley, but made a dreadful ravage 

 among the cattle. Soon after a torrent of 

 burning matter began to roll down the sides 

 of the mountain, at first with a slow and gen- 

 tle motion, but soon with increased celerity. 

 The matter thus poured out, when cold, seem- 

 ed upon inspection to be of vitrified earth, 

 the whole united into a mass of more than 

 stony hardness. But what was particularly 

 observable was, that upon the whole surface 

 of these melted materials, a light spongy stone 

 seemed to float, while the lower body was of 

 the hardest substance of which our roads are 

 usually made. Hitherto there were no ap- 

 pearances but what had been often remarked 

 before; but on the third or fourth day, seem- 

 ing flashes of lightning were shot forth from 

 the mouth of the mountain, with a noise far 

 exceeding the loudest thunder. These flashes, 

 in colour and brightness, resembled what we 

 usually see in tempests, but they assumed a 

 more twisted and serpentine form. After this 

 followed such clouds of smoke and ashes, that 

 the whole city of Naples, in the midst of the 

 day, was involved in nocturnal darkness, and 

 the nearest friends were unable to distinguish 

 each other in this frightful gloom. If any per- 

 son attempted to stir out without torch-light, 

 he was obliged to return, and every part of 

 the city was filled with supplications and ter- 

 ror. At length, after a continuance of some 

 hours, about one o'clock at midnight, the 

 wind blowing from the north, the stars began 

 to be seen; the heavens, though it was night, 

 began to grow brighter; and the eruptions, 

 after a continuance of fifteen days, to lessen. 

 The torrent of melted matter was seen to ex- 

 tend from the mountain down to the shore; 

 the people began to return to their former 

 dwellings, and the whole face of nature to 

 resume its former appearance." 

 I 



