4 



i 



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i . 



'i 





i 



a^ 





a 



ilcl: 

 Oft 



is 



i 



- 





t of it i 



III 



mme- 



i was :■ 



-1 excta 

 arge fa.- 



- 



-everal 



mena 



,1 



kite 



bed 1 

 . e centre. 



the c 



at fl* 



f <. 





o. 



Ch. XXIV.] 



ERUPTION OF MONTE NUOVO. 



Oil 



periods to prove that in 1538 the ground where Monte 

 Nuovo stands was pushed up in the form of a great bubble 



to the present 



blister, which on 



bursting 



gave 



origin 



s 



deep crater. Porzio says, ' that after two days and night 

 of violent earthquakes, the sea retired for nearly 200 yards ; 

 so that the inhabitants could collect great numbers of fish on 

 this part of the shore, and see some springs of fresh water 

 which rose up there. At length, on the third day of the 

 calends of October (September 29), they saw a large tract of 

 ground intervening between the foot of Monte Barbaro and 

 part of the sea, near the Lake Avernus, rise, and suddenly 



m 



as 



it were its 



mou 



night, this heap of earth, opening 

 vomited, with a loud noise, flames, pumice-stones, and ashes. '* 

 So late as the year 1846 a fourth manuscript (written im- 

 mediately after the eruption) was discovered and published 

 in Germany. It was written in 1538 by Francesco del Nero, f 

 who mentions the drying up of the bed of the sea near 

 Puzzuoii, which enabled the inhabitants of the town to carry 

 off loads of fish. About eight o'clock in the morning of the 

 29th September, the earth sunk down about fourteen feet in 

 that place where the volcanic orifice now appears, and there 

 issued forth a small stream of water, at first cold, and after- 

 wards tepid. At noon, on the same day, the earth began to 

 swell up in the same spot where it had sunk down fourteen feet, 

 so as to form a hill. About this time fire issued forth, and gave 



rise to the great 



ulf. 



t) 



light, that I, who was standing in my 



with terror. 



Forty minutes afterwards, although unwell, 



I got upon a neighbouring height, from which I saw all that 

 took place, and by my troth it was a splendid fire, that threw 

 up for a long time much earth and many stones, which fell 



* ' Magnus terrse tractus, qui inter Omni s, Medica, Phil, et Mathemat, in 



radices montis, quern Barbarum incolse unum collecta, 1736, cited by Dufrenoy, 



appellant, et mare juxta Avernivm jacet, Mem. pour servir a une Description 



sese erigere videbatur, et montis subito Geologique de la France, torn. iv. p. 274. 



nascentis figuram imitari. Eo ipso die 



f See Neues Jahr Buchfor 1846, and 



hora noctis II., iste terrse cumulus, a translation in the Quarterly Journ. of 

 aperto veluti ore, magno cam fremitu, the Geol. Soc. for 1847, vol. iii. p. 20. 

 ftiagnos ignes evomuit ; pumice sque, et 

 lapides, cineresque.' — Porzio, Opera 



Memoirs. 



B R 2 



