Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 165 



Pompeii {pom-pay'e}. Almost all their inha- 

 bitants managed to escape. The ashes that fell 

 upon Herculaneum were mixed with steam, so 

 that the moist ashes gradually hardened into 

 stone. 



7. Pompeii was covered over with dry ashes 

 so completely that nothing could be seen 

 of it. Thus it remained buried until 1748, 

 when it was accidentally discovered. Excava- 

 tions were then commenced and have conti- 

 nued to the present day. About one-third 

 of the city has been uncovered, and you can 

 now walk along the streets and look into the 

 houses, and see exactly how people lived in 

 those days. 



8. Vesuvius frequently pours out lava, and 

 travelers often stand close by a stream of lava 

 flowing from it, and see smoke issuing from its 

 crater. 



9. A story is told of a Roman soldier who was guard- 

 ing one of the gates of that ancient city at the time it 

 was destroyed. Although the people rushed wildly past 

 him, in their anxiety to escape suffocation and death, 

 he stood at his post, and, unfortunately, having no 

 orders to leave it, he remained and perished. When 

 the great heaps of ashes were carried away from that 

 part of the city nearly seventeen centuries afterwards 

 his skeleton was found on the spot, with his weapons 

 beside it. 



10. The ruins include those of dwellings, temples, thea- 

 tres, statues, fountains, etc. 



