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On Wednesday June 18 , the wind having for a short space of time cleared away the thick cloud 
from the top of Vesuvius, it was now discovered that a great part of its crater, particularly on the west 
side opposite Naples, had fallen in, which it probably did about four o’clock in the morning of that 
day, as a violent shock of an earthquake was felt at that moment at Resina, and other parts situate at 
the foot of the volcano. The clouds of smoke, mixed with the ashes, were of such a density as to 
appear to have the greatest difficulty in forcing their passage out of the now widely extended mouth 
of Vesuvius, which certainly, since the top fell in, cannot be much short of two miles in circumference. 
One cloud heaped on another, and succeeding one another incessantly, formed in a few hours such a 
gigantic and elevated column of the darkest hue over the mountain, as seemed to threaten Naples with 
immediate destruction, having at one time been bent over the city, and appearing to be much too mas¬ 
sive and ponderous to remain long suspended in the air; it was besides replete with the ferilli, or vol¬ 
canic lightning, which was stronger than common lightning, just as Pliny the younger describes it in 
one of his letters to Tacitus, when he says fulgoribus ilia et similes et majores erant. 
Vesuvius was at this time completely covered, as were all the old black lavas, with a thick coat of 
those fine light-grey ashes already fallen, which gave it a cold and horrid appearance; and in compa¬ 
rison of the above-mentioned enormous mass of clouds, which certainly, however it may contradict 
our idea of the extension of 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 Abbe Braccini, as appears in his printed account of the eruption of 
Mount Vesuvius in 1031 , measured with a quadrant the elevation of a mass of clouds of the same na- 
ture, that was formed over Vesuvius during that great eruption, and found it to exceed thirty miles in 
height. Dr. Scottf 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 degrees. 
The storms of thunder and lightning, attended at times with heavy falls of rain and ashes, causing 
the most destructive torrents of water and glutinous mud, mixed with huge stones, and trees torn up 
by the roots, continued more or less to afflict the inhabitants on both sides of the volcano until the 
7th of July, when the last torrent destroyed many hundred acres of cultivated land, between the towns 
of Torre del Greco and Torre dell’ Annunziata. Some of these torrents, both on the sea side and the 
Somma side of the mountain, came down with a horrid rushing noise; and some of them, after having 
forced their way through the narrow gullies of the mountain, rose to the height of more than twenty 
feet, and were near half a mile in extent. The mud, of which the torrents were composed, being a 
kind of natural mortar, completely cased up and ruined some thousand acres of rich vineyards; for it 
soon becomes so hard, that nothing less than a pickaxe can break it up. 
The laudable curiosity of our author induced him to go upon Mount Vesuvius, as soon as it was 
consistent with any degree of prudence, which was not until the 30 th of June, 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 ldth, and was so on that day, with frequent flashes of light¬ 
ning playing in those clouds, and attended 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 Resina, 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 18 th, which 
attended the falling in of the crater of the volcano, and which had been so violent as to throw 
people down, and obliged all the inhabitants of Resina to quit their houses hastily, to which they did 
not dare return for two days. The leaves of all the vines were burnt by the ashes that had fallen on 
them, and many of the vines themselves w 7 ere buried under the ashes, and great branches of the trees 
that supported them had been torn off by their weight. In short, nothing but ruin and desolation was 
to be seen. The ashes at the foot of the mountain were about ten or twelve inches thick on the surface 
of the earth, but in proportion as he ascended, their thickness increased to several feet, not less than 
nine or ten in some parts; so that the surface of the old rugged lavas, that before was almost impas¬ 
sible, was now become a perfect plain, over wdiich he walked with the greatest ease. I he ashes 
were of a light-grey colour, and exceedingly fine, so that by the footsteps being maiked 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 bewildered, to judge from the many turns he had made. Even 
the traces of lizards and other little animals, and of insects, were visible on these fine ashes. Sii W il- 
liam and his companion ascended to the spot whence the lava of the 15 th first issued, and followed 
