VOLCANO. 



Ottaiano, and was fenfibly felt at Palma and Lauri, which 

 are much farther off. Reddifh afhes fell fo thick on the 

 two former towns, that the air was darkened, fo that ob- 

 jedls could not be diflinguifhed at the dillance of ten feet. 

 Long filaments of a vitrified matter, like fpun glafs, were 

 mixed and fell with thefe aihes ; fevcral birds in cages were 

 fuffocated, and the leaves of the trees in the neighbourhood 

 of Somma were covered with a white and very corrcfivc fait. 



About twelve at eight on the 7th, the fermentation of 

 the mountain fecmed greatly to incrcafe. Our author was 

 watching the motion of the volcano from the mole at 

 Naples, which has a full view of it. Several glorious pic- 

 turefque effefts had been obfervcd from the refleiftion of 

 the deep red fire within the crater of Vefuvius, and whicii 

 mounted high amongll thofe huge clouds on the top of it ; 

 when a fum'mer ftorm (caUod in that country a tropea), 

 came on fuddenly, and blended its heavy watery clouds with 

 the fulphureous and mineral ones, which were already like 

 fo many other mountains, piled up on the top of the volcano. 

 At this moment a fountain of fire was (hot up to an incre- 

 dible height, cafting fo bright a light, that the fmalleft ob- 

 jcds were clearly dillinguifhable, at any place within fix 

 miles or more from Vefuvius. The black llormy clouds 

 pafilng fvviftly over, and at times covering the whole or a 

 part of the bright column of fire, at other times clearing 

 away ar.d giving a full view of it, with the various tints pro- 

 duced by its reverberated light on the white clouds above it, 

 in contrail with the pale flafhes of forked lightning that at- 

 tended the tropea, formed fuch a fcene as no power of art can 

 exprefs. One of his Sicilian majefty's game-keepers, who 

 •was out in the fields near Ottaiano whilft the ftorm was at 

 its height, was furprifed to find the drops of rain fcald his 

 face and hands, a phenomenon probably occafioned by the 

 clouds having acquired a great degree of heat in paffing 

 through the above-mentioned column of fire. 



On the 8th, the mountain was quiet till towards fix o'clock 

 in the evening, when a great fmoke began to gather over its 

 crater ; and about an hour afterwards, a fubterrancous noife 

 was heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano ; the ufual 

 throws of red-hot (tones and fcoris began and increafed 

 every inftant. The crater, viewed through a telefcope, 

 feemed much enlarged by the violence of lail night's explo- 

 fions, and the little mountain on the top was entirely gone. 

 About nine o'clock a nioft violent report was heard at Por- 

 tici and its neighbourhood, which (hook the houfes to fuch 

 a degree, as made the inhabitants run out into the ftreets. 

 Many windows were broken and walls cracked by the con- 

 cuflion of the air on this occafion, though the noife was 

 but faintly heard at Naples. In an inftant, a fountain of 

 liquid tranfparent fire began to rife, and gradually increaf- 

 ing, arrived at lafl at the amazing height of ten thoufand 

 feet and upwards. Puffs of fmoke, as black as can polfibly 

 be imagined, fucceeded one another haftily, and accom- 

 panied the red-hot tranfparent and liquid lava, interrupting 

 its fplendid brightnefs here and there, by patches of the 

 darkefl liue. Within thefe puffs of fmoke, at the very 

 moment of emiflion, a bright but pale eleftrical fire was 

 obferved playing briflvly about in zig-zag lines. The wind 

 was fouth-weft, and though gentle, was fufficient to carry 

 thefe puffs of fmoke out of the colunm of fire, and a col- 

 leftioD of them by degrees formed a black and extenfive 

 curtain behind it. In other parts of the (ky it was perfeftly 

 clear, and the ftars bright. The fiery fountain, of fuch im- 

 menfe magnitude, on the dark ground juft mentioned, made 

 the fineft contraft imaginable ; and the blaze of it reflefted 

 from the furface of the fea, which was at that time per- 

 fcdly fmooth, added greatly to this fublime view. 



7 



The lava, mixed with ftones and fcoriae, having rifen to 

 the amazing height already mentioned, was partly direftcd 

 by the wind towards Ottaiano, and partly falling, ilill red- 

 hot and liquid, upon the top of Vefuvius, covered its whole 

 cone, part of the fummit of Somma, and the valley between 

 them. The falling matter, being nearly as much inflamed 

 .md vivid as that which was continually ilTuing fre(h from the 

 crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which couli 

 not be lefs than two miles, and a half m breadth, and at tli'i 

 extraordinary height above ftated, call a heat to the dillance 

 of at leaft fix miles round. The brulli-wood on the moun- 

 tain of Somma was foon in a blaze, and the flame being of 

 a different colour from the deep red thrown out by the vol- 

 cano, and from the filvery blue of the eleftrical fire, ftill 

 added to the contraft of this moft extraordinary fcene. 



The black cloud, increafing greatly, once bent towards 

 Naples, and threatened the city with fpeedy deftruftion j 

 for it was charged with eleftrical fire, which kept conftantly 

 darting about in bright zigzag lines, like thofe defcribcd 

 by Pliny the younger, in his letter to Tacitus, and which 

 accompanied the great eruption of Vefuvius that proved 

 fatal to his uncle. This fire, however, rarely quitted the 

 cloud, but ufually returned to the great column of fire 

 whsnce it proceeded : though once or twice it was feen to 

 fall on the top of Somma. Fortunately the wind carried 

 back the cloud, juft as ic reached the citv, and had begun 

 to occafion great alarm. The column of fire, however, ftill 

 continued, and diffiifed fuch a ftrong light, that the moft 

 minute objects could be difcerned at the dillance of ten 

 miles or more from the mountain. 



Mr. Morris informed our author, that at Sorrento, which 

 is twelve miles diftant from Vefuvius, he read the title-page 

 of a book by that volcanic light. 



Whilft the eruption lafted, a mixed fmell, like that of 

 fulphur, with the vapours of an iron-foundery, was fenfible. 

 The air, after one day's eruption, was filled at night for 

 many hours with meteors, fuch as are vulgarly called falling 

 ftars, which fhot generally in a horizontal direction, leaving 

 behind them a luminous trace, which quickly difappeared. 

 Many fmall volcanic ftones and cinders were afterwards 

 found to have fallen more than thirty miles from Vefuvius, 

 and minute aflies fell in great abundance at the diftance of a 

 iiundrcd miles. 



During the eruption, the miferable inhabitants of Ot- 

 taiano were involved in the utmoft diftrefs and danger, by the 

 (howers of ftones which fell upon them, and which, had the 

 eruption continued for a longer time, would moft certainly 

 have reduced their town to the fame iituation with Her- 

 culaneum and Pompeii. The mountain of Somma, at the 

 foot of which the town of Ottaiano is fituated, hides Ve- 

 fuvius from the view of its inhabitants ; fo that till the 

 eruption became confiderable, it was not vifible to them. 

 On Sunday night, when the noife increafed, and the fire 

 began to appear above the mountain of Somma, many of 

 the inhabitants flew to the churches, and others were pre- 

 paring to quit the town, when a fudden and violent report 

 was heard, foon after which they found themfelves involved 

 in a thick cloud of fmoke and alhes : a horrid clafhing noife 

 was heard in the air, and prefently fell a vaft (bower of 

 ftones and large pieces of fcoria, fome of which were of the 

 diameter of feven or eight feet, and muft have weighed more 

 than a hundred pounds before they were broken, as fome, 

 of the fragments which fir W. Hamilton found in the ftreets 

 ftill weighed upwards of fixty pounds. When thofe large 

 vitrified maffes either ftruck againft one another in the air, 

 or fell on the ground, they broke in many pieces, and 

 covered a large fpace of ground with vivid fparks of fire, 



■which 



