[ 3«S ] 
XVIII. Some Particulars of the prefent State of Mount Vefu- 
vius ; with the Account of a Journey into the Province of 
Abruzzo, and a Voyage to the Ifand of Ponza. In a better 
from Sir William Hamilton, K. B . F. R» S. and A . -S', to 
Sir Jofeph Banks, Barf . P . R. S . 
Read May 4, 1786, 
SIR, Naples^ January 24, 1786. 
T HE eruption of Mount Vefuvius, which began in the 
month of November 1784, nearly at the moment of 
my return from England to this Capital, and which continued 
in fome degree till about the 20th of laft month, has afforded 
much amufement to travellers unacquainted with this wonder- 
ful operation of nature, but no new circumftance that could 
juftify my troubling you with a letter on the- fubjedt. The 
lava either overflowed the rim of the crater, or iffued from 
fmall fiflures on its borders, on that fide which faces the moun- 
tain of Somma, and ran more or lefs in one, and at times in 
three or four channels, regularly formed, down the flanks of 
the conical part of the volcano ; fometimes defcending and 
fpreading itfelf in the valley between the two mountains ; and 
once, when the eruption was in its greateft force, in the month 
of November laft, the lava defcended ftill lower, and did fome 
damage to the vineyards, and cultivated parts at the foot of 
Vefuvius, towards the village of St, Sebaftiano; but generally 
B b b 3 the 
