456 
imade for a large city. The arches thay 
be so construsted as to adinit ships of 
war, or merchant vessels, to pass through 
them,.an aperture being made in the 
centre which can be opened and shut at 
pleasure. The bridges may he taken to 
pieces in two days, if necessary, to stop 
the progress of an enemy, or for any other 
purpose. 
ITALY. Gal 
An aecount of a new and dreadful 
eruption of Vesuvius, is given in the fol- 
lowing letter from Naples, dated Sep- 
tember 24:—The recent eruption will 
make the year 1810 an epoch im the an- 
nals of Vesuvius, on account of the mane 
ner in which it began, and the disasters 
at has produced. It is considered as a 
very extraordinary circumstance that 
this eruption was not preceded by the 
usual indications; every convulsion of 
Vesuvius being previously announced by 
the drying-up of the wells of Naples. 
‘This phenomenon did not take place on 
this occasion; and, to the great surprise 
of the inhabitants, Vesuvius began to 
emit flames on the night of the 10th of 
September. On the morning of the 11th, 
the fames became more intense, and 
the lava began to flow from the east 
and south-east sides of the mountain, 
‘Towards evening the conflagration in- 
creased, and about twilight two grand 
streams of fire were seen to flow down 
the ridge of the volcano: night produced 
mo change in this state of things. ~On 
the morning of the 12th, a hollow sound 
was heard, and kept increasing ; the fire 
and smoke likewise augmented in inten- 
sity, and towards evening the horizon 
_ was ebscured. The breeze, usual in 
_ ahese parts, having blown from the south. 
east, dissipated the accumulated clouds. 
Jhe mountain continued to vomit lava 
“and a dense smoke, which even ata 
distance was strongly sulphureous; the 
hollow noise in the sides of the mountain 
- “continued-to increase. Curious to wit- 
mess, as near as possible, one of the most 
' sastonisbing phenomena of nature, and 
forgetung the misfortune of Pliny, I set 
out from Naples, and at eight in the 
evening I reached Portici. From thence 
ao the summit of the mountain, the road 
js Jong and difficult. About half way 
zhere isa hermitage, which has long af- 
forded refuge.and shelter to the traveller ; 
‘a good hermit has there fixed his resi- 
dence, and for a moderate sum furnishes 
refreshinents, which to the fatigued tra- 
‘yeller are worth their weight in gold. 
The envivens of tus hermitage produce 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence: 
(Dec. 1; 
the famous wine éalled Lachryma Christis 
From the hermitage to the foot of the — 
Cave, there is a long quarter of a Jeague 
of road, tolerably good ; but in order to 
réach from thence the crater, it is neces- 
sary to climba mountain of cinders, where 
at every step you smk up to the mid- 
leg. It took my companions, myself, 
and our guides, two hours to make this 
ascent; and it was already midnight 
when we reached the crater. The fire 
of the voleano served us for a torch; 
the noise had totally ceased for two 
hours; the flame had also considerably 
decreased: these circumstances aug- 
mented our security, and supplied us 
with the necessary confidence in tra¢ 
versing such dangerous ground. We ap< 
proached as near as the heat would per- 
mit, and set fire to the sticks of our guides 
in the lava, which slowly ran through 
the hollows of the crater. The surface 
of this inflamed matter néarly resembles 
metal in a state of fusion; but as it 
flows, it carries a kind of scum, which 
hardens as it cools, and then forms masses 
of scoria, which dash against.each other, 
and roll, all on fire, with noise, to the 
foot of the mountain. Strong fomes of 
sulphuric acid gas arise in abundance 
from these scoria, and by their caustic 
and penetrating qualities render respi- 
ration difficult. We seemed to be pretty 
secure in this situation, and were far 
from thinking of retiring, ##hen a fright- 
ful explosion, which projected into the 
air fragments of burning rocks to thie 
distance of more than 100 fathoms, re- 
minded us of the danger to which we 
were exposed. None of us hesitated a 
moment to retreat; and in five minutes 
-we cleared in our descent a space 
which we had taken two hours to climb. 
We had not reached the hermitage before 
a noise more frightful than ever was 
heard ; and the volcano, in all its fury, 
began to throw up a mass equal to some 
thousand cart-loads of stones, and frag 
ments of burning rocks, with a force 
which it would be difficult to calculate. 
As the projection was vertical, almost 
the whole of this burning mass fell back 
again into the mouth of the volcano, 
which vomited it forth anew to receive. 
it again, with the exception of some 
‘fragments, which, flying off, fell at a dis- 
tance, and alarmed the inquisitive spec- 
tator. The 13th commenced withnearly 
the same appearances as those of the 
preceding day. The voleanowas tranquil, 
and the lava ran slowly in the channels 
which it had formed daring the oy 
ut 
