of smoko, mixed with the ashes, were of strch 
a density as to appear fo have the greatest 
difficulty in forcing their passage out of the 
now widely-extended mouth of Vesuvius, 
which, sin -e the top fell in, is described as 
not much short ol two miles in circumfer- 
ence. One clond heaped on another, and 
succeeded one another incessantly, formed 
iii a few hours such a gigantic and elevated 
column ot the darkest hue over the moun- 
tain, as seemed to threaten Naples jvith im- 
mediate destruction; having at one time been 
bent over the city, and appearing to be much 
too massive and ponderous to remain long 
suspended in the air. It was, besides, re- 
plete with the feriili, or volcanic lightning, 
which was stronger than common lightning ; 
just as Pliny the h ounger describes it in one 
of his letters to J'acitus, when he says “ ful- 
goribus illie et similes et majores eiant.” 
\ esuvius was at this time completely co- 
vered, as were all the old black lavas, with 
those line light-grey ashes 
already fallen, which gave it a cold and hor- 
rid appearance ; and in comparison of the 
enormous mass of clouds (which certainly, 
however it may contradict our idea of tlie 
extension ol our atmosphere, rose many 
miles above the mountain), it appeared like 
.a molehill, although the perpendicular height 
of Vesuvius, from the level of the sea," is 
more than three thousand six hundred feet. 
The abb6 Braccini, as appears in his printed 
account of the eruption of mount Vesuvius 
in 1(33.1, measured with a quadrant the ele- 
vation o! a mass of clouds of the same na- 
ture, which was form d over Vesuvius dur- 
ing that great eruption, and found it to ex- 
ceed thirty miles in height. Dr. Scotti, in 
his printed account of this eruption, says 
that the height of this threatening cloud of 
smoke" and ashes, measured from Naples, 
was found to be of an elevation of thirty de- 
grees. 
The laudable curiosity of our author in- 
duced him to go upon mount Vesuvius, as 
soon as it was consistent with any degree of 
rudence, which was not until the 30th of 
une, and even then it was attended with 
some risk. The crater of Vesuvius, except 
at short intervals, had been continually ob- 
scured by the volcanic clouds from the d 6th; 
and was so on that day, with frequent flashes 
of lightning playing in those clouds, and at- 
tended as usual with a noise like thunder ; and 
the fine ashes were still falling on Vesuvius, 
but still more on the mountain of Somma! 
Sir William went up the usual way by Resi- 
na, and observed, in his way through that 
village, that many of the stones of the pave- 
ment had been loosened, and were deranged 
by the earthquakes, particularly by that* of 
the 18th, which attended the falling in of the 
crater of the volcano, and which had been 
so violent as to throw many people down, 
and obliged all the inhabitants of Resina to 
quit their houses hastily, to which they did 
not dare to return for two days. The leaves 
of ail the vines were burnt by the ashes that 
had fallen on them ; and many of the vines 
themselves were burled under the ashes, and 
great branches of the trees that supported 
them had been torn off by their weight. In 
shoit, nothing but ruin and desolation was 
to be seen. The ashes at the foot of the 
mountain were about ten or twelve inches 
VOLCANO. 
thick on fhe Surface of the earth ; but in pro- 
portion as he ascended, their thickness in- 
creased to several feet, not less than nine or 
ten in some parts ; so that the surface of the 
old rugged lavas, which before was almost 
impracticable, was now become a perfect 
plain, over which he walked with the great- 
est ease. 1 he ashes were of a light-grey 
colour, and exceedingly line, so that by the 
footsteps being marked on them as on snow, 
he learnt that three small parties had been 
up before him. He saw likewise the track of 
a fox, which appeared to have been quite be- 
wildered, to judge from the many turns he 
had made. Even the traces of lizards and 
other little animals, and of insects, were vi- 
sible on these fine ashes. Sir William and 
his companion ascended to the spot whence 
the lava of the 15th first issued, and follow- 
ed the course of it, which was still very hot 
(although covered with such a thick coat, of 
ashes) quite down to the sea at Torre del 
Greco, which is more than rive miles. It 
was not possible to get up to the great crater 
ot Vesuvius, nor had any one yet attempted 
it. 1 lie horrid chasms that existed from the 
spot where the late eruptions first took place, 
in a straight line for near two miles towards 
the sea, cannot be imagined. Thev formed 
valleys more than two hundred feet deep, and 
from half a mile to a mile wide; and where 
the fountains of fiery matter issued during 
the eruption, were little mountains with 
deep craters. Ben thousand men, in as many 
years, could not make such an alteration on 
the face of Vesuvius. Except the exhalations 
of sulphureous vapours, which broke out 
from different spots of the line above-men- 
tioned, and tinged the surface of the ashes 
and scoria? in those parts with either a deep 
oi pale yellow", with a reddish ochre-colour, 
or a bright white, and in some parts with a 
deep green and azure blue (so that the whole 
together had the effect of an iris), all had the 
appeal ance of a sandy desect. Our adven- 
turers then went on the top of seven of the 
most considerable of the new-formed moun- 
tains, and looked into their craters, which on 
some of them appeared to be little short of 
halt a mile in circumference ; and although 
the exterior perpendicular height of them 
did not exceed two hundred feet, the depth 
of their inverted cone within was three times 
as great. It would not have been possible 
to have breathed on these new mountains 
near their craters, if they had not taken the 
precaution of tying a double handkerchief 
oyer their mouths and nostrils ; and even 
with that precaution they could not resist 
Ike fumes of the sulphureous acid were 
so exceedingly penetrating, and of such a 
suffocating quality. They found in one a 
double crater, like two funnels joined toge- 
ther ; and in all there were some little smoke 
and deposition of salts and sulphurs, of the 
various colours above-mentioned, as is com- 
monly seen adhering to the inner walls of 
the principal crater of Vesuvius. 
I wo or three days after they had been 
there, one of the new mouths into which they 
had looked, suddenly made a great explosion 
of stones, smoke, and ashes, which would cer- 
tainly have proved fatal to any pers®n who 
might unfortunately have been present at the 
tune of the explosion. While they were on 
She mountain, two whirlwinds, exactly like 
those that form w.i|er-spouts at sea, made 
their appearance; anc! one of them, which 
was very near, made a strange rushing noise ; 
and having taken up a great quantity of the 
hue ashes, formed them into an elevated spi- 
ial column, which, with a whirling motion 
and great rapidity, was carried towards the 
mountain of Somma, where it broke and was 
dispersed. One of our author’s servants, em- 
ployed in collecting of sulphur, or sal am- 
moniac, which crystallizes near the fumaroli 
as they are called (which are the spots 
whence the hot vapour issues out of the fresh 
lavas), found to his great surprise, an ex- 
ceeding cold wind from a fissure very near 
the hot fumaroli, upon his leg. In a vineyard 
not in the same line with the new-formed 
mountains just described, but in a right line 
from them, at the distance of little more than 
a mile from i orre del Greco, they found 
three or more of these new-formed moun- 
tains with craters, out of which the lava 
flowed ; and by uniting with the streams that 
came from the higher mouths, and adding 
to their heat and fluidity, enabled the whole 
cui lent to make so rapid a progress over the 
unfortunate town. 
In the town of Somma, our author found 
four churches and about seventy houses with- 
out roofs, and full of ashes. The great da- 
mage on that side of the mountain, by the 
inh ot the ashes and the torrents, happened 
on the 18th, 19th, and 20th of June, and on 
the 12th of July. The 19th, the ashes fell 
so thick at Somma, that unless a person kept 
in motion, he was soon fixed to the ground 
by them. This fall of ashes was accompa- 
nied also with loud reports, and frequent 
flashes oi the volcanic lightning; so that, sur- 
rounded by so many horrors, it was impos- 
sible for the inhabitants to remain in the 
town, and they all fled; the darkness was 
such, although it was mid-day, that even 
with the help of torches it was scarcely pos- 
sible to keep in the high road. On the 16th 
of July, signor Guiseppe Sacco went up to 
the ciater ; and, according to his account, 
which was printed at Naples, the crater i* 
now of an irregular oval form, and as he sup- 
poses (not having been able to measure it) of 
about a mile and a halt in circumference ; 
the inside, as usual, in tiie shape of an in! 
verted cone, the inner walls of which on the 
eastern side are perpendicular ; but on th» 
western side of the crater, which is lower, 
the descent was practicable, and Sacco with 
some ot his companions actually went down 
one hundred and seventy-six palms ; froan 
which spot having lowered a cord with a 
stone tied to it, they found the whole depth 
ol the crater to he about five hundred palms. 
Such observations, however, on the crater of 
Vesuvius, are of little consequence, as both 
its form and apparent depth are subject to 
great alterations from day to day. 
On the 22d of July, one of the new craters 
winch is the nearest to the town of Torre del 
Greco, threw up both fire and smoke ; which 
circumstance, added to that of the lava’s re- 
taining its heat much longer than usual 
seemed to indicate that there was still some 
fermentation under that part of the volcano. 
The Java in cooling often cracks, and causes 
a loud explosion, just as the ice does in the 
glaciers in Swisserland ; such reports were 
frequently heard at this time at the Torre 
del Gxeco ; and a vapour was often seen to 
10 
