ii.] YOUTHFUL TRAVELS, 1826-27. 25 



Temple of Jupiter Serapis. 



'Dec. 2nd, 1826. Being very fine, we set out to Sol- 

 faterra. . . . We then went to the Temple of Jupiter 

 Si i apis, a most interesting specimen of antiquity. 

 Three pillars only stand, but the groundwork of the 

 temple is beautifully distinct. It is a very singular 

 tart that the sea- water stands in the court, and actually 

 s tides in the building now about half-way up the 

 standing pillars : the sea has at one time worn circular 

 holes, where even now shells seem to lie ; the lower 

 part exhibits no such friction, but a pillar which lies 

 on its sides in the bottom has its whole surface 

 bored in the same fashion, and full of sand and frag- 

 ments of shells ; the present tide does not nearly go to 

 the level of this fallen pillar. There are three totally 

 different levels of the sea at different times, not a little 

 singular in the physical history of our globe ; and to these 

 we may add the fact of the sea having retired from the 

 lighthouses now in the heart of Naples, and of its 

 having encroached (apparently very considerably) on 

 some ancient buildings near Sorrento. By a careful 

 combination of the different levels with the several an- 

 tiquities of the edifices, we may form some idea whether 

 the sea has regularly encroached and retired on the parts 

 of the shore elevated and depressed by earthquakes/ 



'AsTRONi, December 7th, 1826. 



We returned to the road along the side of the lake, and, 

 continuing it, went up a steep hill to a gateway entering 

 \al Hunting Park of Astroni, the crater of an 

 nrt vulrano. We immediately aud suddenly de- 

 scended a steep riding road, and one of the most interest- 

 and mmaiitir scenes I ever beheld was presented 

 to our view. It was indeed a volcanic crater, as 

 ilir precipitous sides of overhanging rocks sufficiently 

 billed; Imt. in-trad of the horrid bare chasm which 

 the summit of Vesuvius presents, the cliffs are wooded in 



