C 568 3 
ourfelves into this loofe ground among thefe chinks, 
and being fmothered with the fmoke or vapours, we 
were continually afraid of finking, and meeting with 
fome hole or pit, and fo tumbling into hell from the 
top of this mountain, which we imagined to be one 
of the vents of the infernal regions, or a mouth of the 
burning gulph ; and we expe&ed to perifh like Pliny 
the natural ift, who was fmothered by the flames of 
Vefuvius, which is faid to have have happened in 
the 79th year of the Chriftian sera, at the time of 
that great earthquake, which, having overturned 
whole cities, drove the allies as far as Africa, Syria 
and Egypt. I confefs, the diftance, that thefe allies are 
faid to have travelled thro’ the air, appears to me to 
be very great, for Italy is near a thoufand leagues from 
Syria. 
We haftened out of this dangerous fituation, and 
continued climbing to the top of the mountain, keep- 
ing to the Eaft, or windward. When we got to the 
fummit, we difcovered another gulph or funnel, that 
opened fome years fince, and emits nothing but 
fmoke. The top of the mountain is, as father Du 
Tertre fays, a very uneven plain, covered with heaps 
of burnt and calcined earth of various fizes ; the 
ground fmokes only at the new funnel, but appears 
to have formerly burnt in many places ; for we ob- 
ferved abundance of thefe crevices, and even gutters, 
and very large and deep chinks, which mull have 
burnt in former times. 
The fame reafons, that obliged us to quit the burn- 
ing gulph, probably hindered father Labat from 
viewing this fummit, and prevented his coming at 
the knowledge of a very deep abyfs, or precipice, 
which is in the middle of this fiat. 
7 
It 
