12 
Account of a Descent 
tlie contents of two panniers produce half a piece of wine : 
forty panniers yield nine or ten pieces of white wine, 
and each piece contains two hundred bottles. 
f To he continued. J 
No. 8. 
XXI. Account of a Descent into the Crater of Mount 
Vesuvius hy eight Frenchmen on the JSftght between 
the 18 th and Ityth of July 1801.* 
TO ascend to the summit of mount Vesuvius, which is 
elevated 8600 feet above the level of the sea, is an enter- 
prise of great difficulty, as it is necessary for nearly half 
the height to climb an exceedingly steep declivity up to 
the knees in ashes. Some philosophical men of eminence, 
however, as Spallanzani, Dolomieu, Or. Moore, &c. have 
overcome all these difficulties. Sir William Hamilton, 
who caused a great many views of Y esuvius to be designed 
during his long residence at Naples, ascended to the 
summit of it sixty- two tildes ; but no one, at least since 
the eruption in 1799, ever ventured to descend into the 
crater of this volcano, not even Sir William Hamilton, 
who considered it under so many points of view, and 
who visited it so many times. It was reserved for eight 
Frenchmen to hazard this dangerous enterprise, and to 
succeed in it completely, notwithstanding the timidity of 
their guides, the impossibility which the Neapolitans 
attached to it, and the instances they mentioned of rash 
travellers who had lost their lives in the attempt, and been 
swallowed up by the volcano. 
To be affile to appreciate the danger of this enterprise, 
it will be necessary to have a correct idea of the form 
and position of Vesuvius, and of the matters which it 
* Tilled!, vol. ii. p, 134. 
