28 



A HISTORY OF 



The famous Bishop Berkley gives an ac- 

 count of one of these eruptions in a manner 

 something different from the former." " In the 

 year 1717, and the middle of April, with much 

 dilficulty I reached the top of Mount Vesu- 

 vius, in which I saw a vast aperture full of 

 smoke, which hindered me from seeing its 

 depth and figure. I heard within that horrid 

 gulf certain extraordinary sounds, which 

 seemed to proceed from the bowels of the 

 mountain, u sort of murmuring, sighing, dash- 

 ing sound ; and, between whiles, a noise like 

 that of thunder or cannon, with a clattering 

 like that of tiles falling from the tops of houses 

 into the streets. Sometimes, as the wind 

 changed, the smoke grew thinner, discovering 

 a very ruddy flame, and the circumference of 

 the crater streaked with red and several 

 shades of yellow. After an hour's stay, the 

 smoke, being moved by the wind, gave us 

 short and partial prospects of the great hol- 

 low; in the flat bottom of which I could dis- 

 cern two furnaces almost contiguous; that on 

 the left seeming about three yards over, 

 glowing with ruddy flame, and throwing up 

 red-hot stones with a hideous noise, which, 

 as they fell back, caused the clattering al- 

 ready taken notice of. May 8, in the morning, 

 I ascended the top of Vesuvius a second time, 

 and found a different face of things. The 

 smoke ascending upright, gave a full prospect 

 of the crater, which, as I could judge, was 

 about a mile in circumference, and a hundred 

 yards deep. A conical mount had been 

 formed, since my last visit, in the middle of 

 the bottom, which I could see was made by 

 the stones, thrown up and fallen back again 

 into the crater. In this new hill remained the 

 two furnaces already mentioned. The one 

 was seen to throw up every three or four 

 minutes, with a dreadful sound, a vast number 

 of red-hot stones, at least three hundred feet 

 higher than my head, as I stood upon the 

 brink; but as there was no wind, they fell 

 perpendicularly back from whence they had 

 been discharged. The other was filled with 

 red-hot liquid matter, like that in the furnace 

 of a glass-house, raging and working like the 

 waves of the sea, with a short abrupt noise. 

 This matter would sometimes boil over, and 



Phil. Trans. voL ii. p. 209. 



run down the side of the conical hill, appear- 

 ing at first red hot, but changing colour as it 

 hardened and cooled. Had the wind driven 

 in our faces, we had been in no small danger 

 of stifling by the sulphureous smoke, or being 

 killed by the masses of melted minerals that 

 were shot from the bottom. But as the wind 

 was favourable, I had an opportunity of sur- 

 veying this amazing scene for above an hour 

 and a half together. On the fifth of June, 

 after a horrid noi*e, the mountain was seen 

 at Naples to work over; and, about three 

 days after, its thunders were renewed so, 

 that not only the windows in the city, but all 

 the houses, shook. From that time it con- 

 tinued to overflow, and sometimes at night 

 were seen columns of fire shooting upward 

 from its summit. On the tenth, when all was 

 thought to be over, the mountain again re- 

 newed its terrors, roaring and raging most 

 violently. One cannot form ajuster idea of 

 the noise, in the most violent fits of it, than 

 by imagining a mixed sound made up of the 

 raging of a tempest, the murmur of a troubled 

 sea, and the roaring of thunder and artillery, 

 confused all together. Though we heard this 

 at a distance of twelve miles, yet it was very 

 terrible. I therefore resolved to approach 

 nearer to the mountain; and, accordingly, 

 three or four of us got into a boat, and were 

 set ashore at a little town situated at the foot 

 of the mountain. From thence we rode about 

 four or five miles, before we came to the tor- 

 rent of fire that was descending from the side 

 of the volcano; and here the roaring grew 

 exceedingly loud and terrible as we ap- 

 proached. I observed a mixture of colours 

 in the cloud, above the crater, green, yellow, 

 red, and blue. There was likewise a ruddy 

 dismal light in the air, over that tract where 

 the burning river flowed. These circum- 

 stances, set off and augmented by the horror 

 of the night, made a scene the most uncom- 

 mon and astonishing I ever saw; which still 

 increased as we approached the burning 

 river. Imagine a vast torrent of liquid fire, 

 rolling from the top down the side of the 

 mountain, and with irresistible fury bear- 

 ing down and consuming vines, olives, and 

 houses ; and divided into different channels, 

 according to the inequalities of the mountain. 

 The largest stream seemed half a mile broad 



