314 



REPORT — 1891. 



the slope of the great cone in the line of fissure were a few luminous 

 points from some pieces of still uncooled lava of the little that had oozed 

 forth from the lower half of the tissure. At about 60 or 80 yards from 

 the foot of the great cone two or three fountains of lava were throwing 

 up jets of molten rock for 2 or 3 m., and the lava was slowly spreading 

 out on the almost horizontal plain of the Atrio in several tongues. The 

 lava must have still been high in the main chimney, as the vapour that 

 issued at the top of the fissure showed a slightly red illumination. So 



Fig. 1. — Great cone of Vesuvius, as seen from a little W. of the Punta del Xasone 

 of Monte Somma, showing the eruptive rift of June 7, 1801. (Photographed 

 by the author.) 



I^^fe^a^^^? V^:i 



C, crater plain and cone of eruption; J?, rift, marked half-way down by an irregular 

 craterifomi pit produced bv the explosion at .5..S0 p.m. ; L. tonsueg of lava 

 that issued from last-mentioned pit; F, main outpour of lava with fumaroles. 



we remained till daylight, when we could see the fissure on the side of 

 the cone. The mouth that formed at 5.30 the previous day was still 

 smoking a little, whilst the fissure below it sent off several ramifications 

 at an acute angle like the branches of an inverted tree, from several of 

 which little streams of lava had been given out, where they had soon 

 consolidated (see fig. 1). We now followed the base of the great cone 

 to the lower railway station, where we found all the people up and 

 dressed, frightened by strong shocks and noises at 2.23 a.m., coincident 

 with the fresh outflow of lava that we had witnessed, but which shocks 



