KINGDOM OF NAPLES. 



683 



tion and the abundance of nature. The magnificence of the whole scene is bej^ond the most 

 gorgeous description. 



The streets of the city are strait but narrow ; some are refreshed with fountains ; others are 

 decorated with statues and sculptured obelisks. The houses are high, the roofs flat, more than 

 half the front consists ol windows, and every window is faced with an iron balcony. Naples 

 in its interior has no parallel on earth. The whole population is out of doors and in incessant 

 motion ; Jio street in London or Paris has anything comparable to it ; it is one everlasting tu- 

 mult. The Strada cli Toledo is a perpetual fair, and on Sundays the crowd is so immense 

 that it is difficult to walk through it. This street is very splendid, and the shops gay and 

 showy. Every trade, occupation, and amusement is hei'e going on in the midst of a tumultu- 

 ous crowd rolling up and down. In this region of caricature, every bargain sounds like a bat- 

 tle ; the popular exhibitions are full of the grotesque, and some of the church processions 

 would frighten a war-horse. The Mole is on hol3"days an epitome of the city, and exhibits 

 most of its humors. The number of lazzaroni, or vagabonds, is immense. They are idle 

 from choice ; their tatters are not misery, for the climate requires hardly any covering, and 2 

 cents value of macaroni is sufficient food for a day. 



Six strong castles defend the city, and an excellent mole shelters the port. The commerce 

 is not very active. There are above 300 churches in Naples, remarkable for their ornaments 

 and rich jewelry. The nobility are numerous and are much addicted to show and parade ; 

 100 of theni have the title of princes. Population, 365,000.* 



The environs of Naples combine almost everything grand and beautiful. Many of the towns 

 scattered along the bay have 10 and 15,000 inhabitants. Mount Vesuvius, which forms so 



striking a feature in the landscape, 

 rises in a pyramidal form, on the east, 

 in the midst of a large plain. The 

 traveler, in ascending it, passes among 

 cultivated fields and vineyards, trav- 

 ersed by old streams of lava, black, 

 rough, and sterile. f The ascent is 

 gradual and extends 3 miles. On one 

 side the mountain is cultivated nearly 

 to the top. The conical summit is 

 composed of ashes and cinders. The 

 crater is about a mile in circuit, and 

 is 3,800 feet above the sea. The 

 view from the summit is enchanting. 

 The soil of the mountain is extreme- 

 Mount Vesuvius. ^ (^-''-tile, and cultivated with the 



spade like a garden. The crater 

 throws out continual smoke, and often bursts forth in terrible eruptions. In this direction are 

 Portici, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. 



On the west is Mount Pausilippo^ through which is cut the tunnel or arched way, called the 

 grotto of Pausilippo, 90 feet high, 30 feet wide, and upwards of a mile long. Passing through 

 this tunnel you come to the lake of Jlgnano., which emits sulphureous vapors, and has the sin- 

 gular property of boiling up in some places, without being hot. On its banks is the Grotta del 

 Cane or Dog's Grotto, the bottom of which is covered with carbonic acid gas. On plunging 



* " To a mere student of nature, to an artist, to a man 

 of pleasure, to any man that can be happy among people 

 who seldom affect virtue, perhaps there is no residence in 

 Kurope so tempting as Naples and its environs. What 

 variety of attractions ! a climate where heaven's breath 

 smells wooingly ; the most beautiful interchange of sea 

 and land ; wines, fruits, provisions, in their highest e.xcel- 

 lence ; a vigorous and luxuriant nature, unparalleled in 

 its productions and processes ; all the wonders of volcan- 

 ic power spent or in action ; antiquities different from all 

 other antiquities on earth ; a coast which was once the 

 fairy land of poets, and the favorite retreat of great men. 

 Even the tyrants of the creation loved this alluring re- 

 gion, spared it, adorned it, lived in it, died in it." — For- 

 syth. 



t " The short eru]ition of December last, opened lite 

 new crater on I he brink of which we stood ; tlie old one 

 it filled up, and 4 streams of lava descended in various 

 directions, but did net reach an}' of the towns or villages 

 or even the cultivated fields ; so that the inhabitants, alter 

 placing sentinels to watch the progress of the glowing 

 fluid, and packing up their effects to be ready to decam[i, 

 quietly went to bed as usual, while the river of fire slowly 

 rolling on, advanced towards them, for lava does not, 

 strictly speaking, flow, but the upper part continually 

 tumbles over the lower, which, adhering to the ground, is 

 retarded. Those houses which are most exposed find 

 purchasers, although at a somewhat reduced price." — ■ 

 Simond's Travels, 1818. 



