and the Feast af St. Agatha . 
293 
1821.] 
HERMITAGE AT VESUVIUS. 
and wine of the mountain, all articles 
for which they very humbly demand 
twice their value. However this may 
be, the stay which you make there is 
very curious: the hermitage,the church, 
the great trees which surround them, 
the whole is lighted up in a very pic¬ 
turesque manner, at one time by the 
light of the torches, and at another by 
the modest lamp of the hermits. 
On my first journey, we halted at this 
place. A noise was heard similar to 
that of thunder, but without its rolling. 
The guide took me by the arm and dis¬ 
covered to me the summit of the moun¬ 
tain ; it was all on fire. We quickened 
our march, still riding on the mules. 
In the course of half an hour we arrived 
at the foot of the cone which encloses 
the crater, it is formed of lava, ashes, 
and stones. You there abandon the 
mules, and have only three quarters 
of an hour’s walk to arrive at the sum¬ 
mit. The slope is rapid, the ashes and 
„ the stones give way and roll under 
your steps, and the ascent is so fatigue- 
ing, that some persons are drawn up by 
ropes which the guide passes round 
their shoulders. An irregularity of 
the mountain makes you at first believe 
that you are near arriving,but soon the 
very summit presents itself at a dis¬ 
tance, and you must again recruit your 
strength. It is generally in the midst 
of a torrent of lava such as burst forth 
in 1S13, that the travellers arrest their 
progress. This lava is still hot, and as 
you are generally in a perspiration, al¬ 
though the morning wind is cold, you 
sit down with pleasure in the crevices 
or fissures of this torrent. In so me 
places they are still burning; and by 
thrusting down a piece of paper, it will 
speedily take fire. Here you generally 
boil eggs for your breakfast, a repast 
which you cannot dispense with making 
on the borders of (he crater. 
The day now began to dawn: we ex¬ 
tinguished tire torches ; the march be¬ 
came easier, and every moment the 
mountain trembled, and threw out red 
hot stones, half dissolved, to a great 
distance. Our guide, in order to avoid 
them, made us keep to the side of the 
wind. At length we arrived at the 
brink of the gulph. At the bottom a 
reddish matter rose up and descended 
slowly; all of a sudden it began to 
swell, a thick cloud of smoke traversed 
it and rose up into the air, carrying 
along with it pieces of burning lava. 
By degrees this blackish flake expanded 
itself and totally disappeared ; some 
stones again rolled down the abyss, 
which seemed for an instant to sus¬ 
pend its workings. 
I could not have seen it at a more 
favourable period. I was surprised 
with this grand effect; which my imagi¬ 
nation could not have conceived. I re¬ 
mained there two hours; at every ten 
minutes a similar explosion took place. 
Every thing we can imagine of the 
nature of volcanos is lost at the bottom 
of the crater, which, in all the truth 
of description, seemed to be the mouth 
of hell. In the smallest works of na¬ 
ture, we see some utility: but what is 
there in that of a volcano? 
The summit of the mountain is se¬ 
veral acres in breadth, and hollowed 
into apertures in the form of a funnel, 
