2s 1 A P 
t-ver, appear difturbed, either on the 13th, 14th, or 15th, 
nor did it exhibit any fymptoms of an approaching erup¬ 
tion ; but towards nine in the evening of the laft day 
many fymptoms were manifefted. The houfes about the 
mountain experienced violent (hocks, which gradually 
increafed in force: a very powerful one was felt at ten 
o’clock in Naples and its environs. At this inftant, on 
the weftern bale of the cone, at the fpot called La Peda- 
mentina, and from the midft of ancient torrents, a new 1 
mouth dil'gorged a ftream of lava. This opening was 1375 
feet in length, and 137 in breadth. Scarcely had the 
ftream of lava begun to flow, before four conical hills, 
each having its fmall crater, (the third alone excepted, 
which had two diftindt mouths,) arofe out of the ftream 
itfelf. From thefe different mouths ftones were darted 
into the air with great noife, and in a ftate fo highly ig¬ 
nited, that they refembled real flames; ,the exploiions in¬ 
deed were fo quickly repeated, that they l'eemed but one, 
and formed a continued ftieet of fire in the air, which re¬ 
ceived no other interruption than what was occafioned by 
the inferiority of force of fome of the ejections. They 
fometimes vomited l'ubftances, I may fay, in a fluid ftate, 
for they expanded in the air like a foft pafte; fo that one 
may imagine they were either a part of the running lava, 
or mafles of old lava fnfecl and projected. Some of thefe 
hills were contiguous one to the other; and it feems as if 
the force by which they were produced had met with ob- 
ftrudiion to the difgorgement of the l'ubftances at one 
point, and confequently effedted leveral iffues in the fame 
line. The lava flowed in one body for fome time, and at 
intervals flafnes of light arofe from the furface of it, pro¬ 
duced by jets of hydrogenous gas, which difengaged it¬ 
felf from the lava precilely in the fame manner as the 
gafes expand from the furface of a fluid. Its firft direction 
was towards Portici and Refina, fo that the inhabitants 
of Torre del Greco already bewailed the fate of their 
neighbours, and began their thankfgivings to the Al¬ 
mighty for their efcape. Colledted together in the church, 
they were ftill linging hymns of joy, and exprefling their 
gratitude, wdien a voice announced to them the fatal 
news of their altered deftiny. The ftream of lava, on flow¬ 
ing down a declivity it met in its way, divided itfelf into- 
three branches ; one, bearing towards Sta Maria de Pu- 
gliano, traverfed a fpace of 2063 feet; another, diredling 
its courfe towards Relina, flowed to the diftance of 3181 
feet; while the remainder of the ftream, falling into the 
Valley of Malorno, flowed towards La Torre. On reach¬ 
ing the chapel of Bolzano, it formed a branch towards the 
fouth-eaft, which terminated in the territory of Aniello 
Tirone, after having run the length of 1490 feet; the re- 
fidueof the lava, purfuing its courfe, flowed upon Torre, 
prefenting a front from 1200 to 1500 feet in breadth, and 
filling feveral deep ravines. 
“ On reaching the firft houfes of the town, the ftream 
divided according to the different Hopes of the ftreets, 
and the degrees of oppofition prefented by the buildings. 
An idea may eafily be formed of the accidents confequent 
on fuch a flood of fire; accidents which bear relation to 
the fcite of the manufactories, the thicknefs of their walls, 
and the manner in which they were alfailed by the lava. 
Had not the mafs of the ftream fuffered a diminution 
from the different divergencies noticed, not a Angle houfe 
would have been left Handing in Torre del Greco. The 
lava, after a ferpentine courle through the town, at length 
reached the fea-fnore. The contadl with the water di- 
minilhed the fpeed of its courfe: ftill the current flowed 
into the fea in a body 1127 feet in breadth, and advanced 
into it a diftance of 362 feet. Its entrance into the fea 
was not marked by any Angular phenomenon ; it began 
to iffue from the volcano at ten at night, and reached the 
fea-lhore by four in the morning; continuing a very flow 
progreffive movement into the fea throughout the whole 
of the 16th, and the following night. The main ftfeam, 
from the point where it iffued from the volcano to that 
at which it flopped in the lea, meafured 12,961 feet. Its 
Vol. XVI. No. 1136. 
L £ S. 5G3 
breadth varied greatly; in fome places it fcarcely ex¬ 
ceeded 322 feet, but in the plain it fpread to mi ; and at 
a medium, without rifk of any great error, it may be com¬ 
puted to have been 725 feet broad. In thicknefs alio it 
differed according to the depth of the hollows it filled ; 
in the plain it was conftantly from twenty-four to thirty- 
two feet thick : and, if its mean thicknefs be reckoned at 
the latter number of feet, it may poflibiy be neareft the 
truth. According to thefe data, the mafs of molten mat¬ 
ter is 1,869,627 cubic fathoms. During the eruption the 
convullion of the mountain was fo great, that even the 
houfes in Naples were fiiaken by it. Still it was not con¬ 
ftantly alike. At the beginning the trembling was con¬ 
tinual, and accompanied by a hollow noife, fimilar tb 
that occafioned by a river falling into a fubterranean ca¬ 
vern. The lava, at the time of its being difgorged, 
from the impetuous and uninterrupted manner in which 
it was ejedled, by linking againft the walls of the vent, 
occafioned a continual ofcillation of the mountain. To¬ 
wards the middle of the night this, vibratory motion; 
ceafed, and was fucceeded by diftinct (hocks. The fluid 
mafs, diminifhed in quantity, now preffed lefs violently 
againft the walls of the aperture, and no longer iffued iu 
a continual and gufhing ftream, but only at intervals, 
when the interior fermentation elevated the boiling matte'f 
above the mouth. About four in the morning the Ikocks! 
began to be lefs numerous, and the intervals between 
them rendered their force and duration more perceptible. 
One might compare them to the thunder heard in Italy 
during ftorms in fummer, the loudeft claps of which are 
fucceeded by rumbling founds, which gradually die away. 
“ While I was making my obfervations on this grand 
eruption at the foot of Vefuvius, its lumfnit was tranquil, 
and no phenomena were vifible about its crater. I palled 
the night at fea, between Calaftro and La Torre, to have 
a nearer view of this great operation of nature, and to 
prove the truth of the opinion generally received, that 
great eruptions are accompanied by extraordinary phe¬ 
nomena in the fea. A more grand fpedtacle there could 
not be. On one of thofe ferene and brilliant nights, 
known only in the delightful climate of Naples, a ma- 
jeftic ftream of fire, 11,868 feet in length, and 1483 in 
breadth, was feen at the foot of Vefuvius; its refledted 
furface formed in the atmofphere a broad and brilliant 
aurora borealis, regularly fpread and terminated at its' 
upper part by a thick and dark border of fmoke, which, 
dilating itfelf in the air, covered the difc of the moon; 
the fliining Alvery light of which was enfeebled and ob- 
fcured. The fea again refledted the illuminated Iky, the 
furface of it, correlponding with this portion of the at- 
molphere, appearing as red as fire. At the fource of this 
river of fire inflamed matter was inceffantly fpouted out 
to a prodigious elevation, which, as it diverged on all 
fides, refembled an immenfe fire-work. On the fea-fhore, 
finally, the mournful fpedtacle of the conflagration of 
La Torre completed the picture. The valt clouds of 
thick black fmoke which role from the town, the flames 
which occafionally crowned the fummits of the houfes, 
the ruins of the buildings, the noife of the falling palaces 
and houfes, the rumbling of the volcano—thefe were the 
principal incidents of this horrible, yet fublime, feene. 
The ruins of Pompeia, buried beneath heaps of droffes 
and powders, did not certainly prefent a lpedtacle near fo 
ftriking. To thefe objedts, lo powerfully calculated to 
fix the fenfes, was added another, which forcibly touched 
the heart: this was a doleful group of fifteen thoufand 
perfons, bewailing the deftrudtion of their city and pro¬ 
perty, who had had but a moment’s notice to flee and 
abandon their homes for ever, and were reduced to be¬ 
come wanderers, and dependent on the world for refuge. 
“ About dawn, the fummit of Vefuvius ceafed to be 
vifible : it was covered with a thick cloud, frequently 
furrowed with lightning. This cloud gradually fpread 
itfelf, and in a little time overlhadowed the gulf, the city 
of Naples, and its vicinage. It was formed of a large 
7 E quantity 
