x.] ALPINE TRAVELS, 1843. 303 



in the night, and there was a bitter wind indeed 

 it was not until we were within sight of Genoa that 

 we met with an Italian climate, which, however, has 

 since followed us. The Bay of Genoa was finer, and the 

 city far more splendid and interesting than I had ex- 

 pected ; we had nearly two days to examine it, and I 



quite delighted with it. ... 



1 The extraordinary beauty of the weather has kept us 



much on the move in the way of sight-seeing, and my 



numerous geological excursions generally three a week 



have filled my notebook and my evenings. I have 



had a heavy correspondence with my friends at 



lxme, both scientific and otherwise, whose kindness at 



tin- ]'iv>< 'lit juncture I cannot sufficiently acknowledge. 



My first and main anxiety when I last wrote, was, that 



in v absence should be rightly construed, and my place 



iently supplied. All my interest in Italy was sub- 



-i vient to seeing it with a clear conscience. . . .' 



The ' numerous geological excursions ' in the environs 

 Naples, which occupied him until the end of the year, 

 were chiefly devoted to revisiting and re-examining the 

 scenes of his ' Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples : ' 

 Astroni and Solfaterra, Pozzuoli, with its ruined temple 

 of S<T.j>is, whose honeycombed pillars had recorded the 

 oscillations of level between the bay and the coast, and 

 lastly Vesuvius. This he visited several times, and accu- 

 mulated a mass of fresh observations on the structure of 

 >us lava streams, and the mechanical conditions 

 whieh had a fleeted their course. In condensing the 

 following account from his notes, these scientific details 

 are necessarily omitted : 



Journal, November 3Qth. 



ded Vesuvius under the guidance of Vincenxo 



/"lino. .-iid V'Tvthing seemed to me just as I remem- 



ttly that an observatory \vas rising m-ar the 



Hen \\-as all streaked with the 



g lavas of 1836 and 1839, up the latter of which 



