VESUVIUS. 





* 











. 



z 











163 



marine animals were seen on the dry sand. The appearances 

 above described agree perfectly with those witnessed in 

 more recent eruptions, especially those of Monte Nuovo in 

 1538, and of Vesuvius in 1822."— Ly ell's "Principles of 

 Geology," 1847, p. 351. 



79 



yected 



79, 



entirely of lapilli, sand, and fragments of older lava " and 

 it was in these that the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii 

 were buried. 



The first recorded stream of lava, after the ^ear 

 flowed in 1036, and after that period eruptions took place 

 in 1049, and 1138 or 1139; "after which a great pause 

 ensued for 168 years," when an eruption took place in 1306 

 another in 1500, another at Monte Nuovo in 1538, when 

 a new hill was formed 440 feet in height." For nearly a 

 century after the birth of Monte Nuovo, Vesuvius continued 

 in a state of tranquility. There had been no violent erup- 

 tion for 492 years. Bracini, who visited Vesuvius not Ion- 

 before the eruption of 1631, gives the following interesting 

 description of the interior : 



(f The crater was five miles in circumference and about 

 a thousand paces deep : its sides were covered with brush- 

 wood, and at the bottom there was a plain on which cattle 

 grazed. In the woody part wild boars frequently harboured. 

 In one part of the plain, covered with ashes, were three 

 small pools, one filled with hot and bitter water, another 

 Salter than the sea, and a third hot but tasteless. But at 

 length these forests and grassy plains were consumed, being 

 suddenly blown into the air, and their ashes scattered to the 

 winds. In December 1631, seven streams of lava poured 

 at once from the crater and overflowed several villages on 

 the flanks and at the foot of the mountain. Pesina, partly 

 built over the ancient site of Herculaneum, was consumed 



the fiery torrent. Great floods of mud were as de- 

 structive as the lava itself— no uncommon occurrence duriiur 



tbese catastrophes ; for such is the violence of 



tt 



rams pro- 



f2 



Upper 

 Gallery. 



Table-case 

 in Excess 4, 



