172 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1751. 



only 7-^ inches; and the tail, from its root to the extremity, is Q inches; its face 

 about an inch long; and hardly 4 of an inch broad at the eyes, where it is 

 broadest. Its weight is about 44 oz. The face is naked, and of a flesh-colour; 

 the eyes black, having no white part visible; the ears are thin, large in propor- 

 tion, and of a dark colour ; and are surrounded each with a grove of very white 

 hairs ; between which the hairs of the neck are blackish, and so are the 4 extre- 

 mities; the rest of the body and tail is a mixture of dusky and yellow, so as to 

 compose a dark olive; the hairs of the body are exceedingly soft, and each hair 

 is parti-coloured, dusky at the root, then a little yellowish, then dark, and then 

 yellowish again, somewhat like the soft feathers of partridges. The fingers are 

 slender, each having 3 joints; they are 5 on each extremity, and are pointed by 

 nails rather resembling the claws of birds, than those of human bodies; which 

 is common to most other species of the cercopitheci. 



XXI. Abstract of a Letter from Naples, concerning Herculaneum, containing 

 an Account and Description of the Place, and what has been found in it. 

 p. 150. 



The entrance into Herculaneum is described to be down a narrow passage, cut 

 with a gradual descent; and towards the bottom into steps, and the city is sup- 

 posed to lie about 60 feet under the surface of the ground. Those who go down 

 into it, carry each of them a wax taper, and are preceded by a guide. It is 

 supposed that besides the earthquake, which swallowed up this town, it was also 

 at the same time overwhelmed with the burning lava, which ran down from 

 mount Vesuvius, during the eruption. And accordingly all the passages into it 

 are cut through this lava; which is a very hard substance, like stone, of a slate 

 colour, and said to be composed of various kinds of metals and glass ; which 

 indeed is manifest in the appearance of it. The streets of Naples are paved with 

 the same lava; but it seems to be of a much more soft and sandy substance in 

 Herculaneum, than in the places where they dig it for use. 



The appearance of this city would greatly disappoint such, as should have 

 raised their expectation to see in it spacious streets and fronts of houses ; for they 

 would find nothing but long narrow passages, just high enough to walk upright 

 in, with a basket on the head ; and wide enough for the workmen, who carry 

 them, to pass each other, with the dirt they dig out. There is a vast number 

 of these passages, cut one out of another; so that one might perhaps walk the 

 space of 2 miles, by going up every turning. 



Their method of digging is this : whenever they find a wall, they clear a pas- 

 sage along the side of it. When they come to an angle they turn with it; and 

 when they come to a door or a window, they make their way into it. But when 

 they have so done, they are far from finding themselves in a spacious room, or 



