251 



I have heard the question discussed at Oro- 

 tava, whether it can be admitted, that in the 

 lapse of ages the Peak will begin again to act. 

 In a matter so doubtful, analogy alone can serve 

 as a guide. Now according to the report of 

 Braccini, the interior of the crater of Vesuvius 

 was covered with shrubs in 1611. Every thing 

 then indicated the greatest tranquility; and 

 nevertheless twenty years after, the same gulf, 

 which seemed transformed into a shadowy vale, 

 threw out sheets of fire, and an enormous quan- 

 tity of ashes. Vesuvius resumed in 1631 the 

 same activity it had in 1500. In the sanie man- 

 ner it is possible, that the crater of the Peak may 

 change it's appearance at some future period. It 

 is a solfatara like the tranquil solfatara of Puz- 

 zuoli ; but it is placed on the summit of a vol- 

 cano yet in activity. 



The eruptions of the Peak have been very rare 

 for two centuries past, and these long intervals 

 appear to characterize volcanoes highly elevated. 

 The smallest of the whole, Stromboli, is almost 

 always burning. At Vesuvius, the eruptions are 

 already rarer, though still more frequent than 

 those of Etna and the Peak of TenerifFe. The 



everywhere at the foot of burning volcanoes. At Naples, 

 earthquakes precede the eruptions of Vesuvius, they cease 

 when the lava begins to flow, and are in general very feeble 

 in comparison of those felt on the slope of the calcareous 

 Apennines. 



