VESUVIUS IN ERUPTION 



57 



Neverless, the outburst of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and its 

 re-entrance into a state of activity came upon the un- 

 fortunate population around it as an absolutely unexpected 

 thing. At least a thousand years — probably several 

 thousand years — had passed since Vesuvius had become 

 "extinct." All tradition of its prehistoric activity had 

 disappeared, though the learned Greek traveller Strabo 

 had pointed out the indications it presented of having 

 been once a seat of consuming fire. From a.d. 63 there 



Fir. 30. — Vesuvius as it appeared before the eruption of August 24, 

 A.D. 79. From a sketch by Prof. Phillips, F.R.S. 



were during sixteen years frequent earthquakes in its 

 neighbourhood, which, as we know by records and in- 

 scriptions, caused serious damage to the towns around it, 

 and then suddenly, on the night of Aug. 24, A.D. 79, vast 

 explosions burst from its summit. A huge black cloud of 

 fine dust and cinders, lasting for three days, spread from 

 it for twenty miles around, streams of boiling mud poured 

 down its sides, and in a few hours covered the city of 

 Herculaneum, whilst a dense shower of hot volcanic dust 

 completely buried the gay little seaside resort known as 



