IX.
Messina (Sicily), March, 10, 1841.
In my last, from Naples, I promised, after having visited Mount Vesuvius and the entombed cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, to describe them. On arriving at Resina, about five miles distant from Naples, our party took mules and donkeys and ascended to the hermitage by a good mule path, occupying about two hours time. Here we were compelled to leave our animals, and ascend slowly and cautiously through masses of lava for about an hour—an exceedingly fatiguing task. At times we were almost suffocated with the sulphurous smoke which seemed to burst forth in different directions. The most difficult task was in returning from the mouth of the crater after having descended about twelve hundred feet. It is rare that persons descend to the verge or the mouth of the crater, and our guide was quite unwilling to attempt it, but our party persisted, and it was accomplished with great labor. The top of the crater is computed at two and a half miles in circumference, and at the bottom the opening is about thirty feet in diameter, and ejects forth sulphurous smoke, with a loud rumbling noise, resembling the escape of steam of a Mississippi steamer.
The distance from Naples to Pompeii is about twelve miles. The city of Pompeii was buried under ashes and pumice stones, and deluged with showers of boiling water, in the year 79 of the Christian era, and accidentally discovered in 1775 by a peasant while planting a vineyard.
On arriving at the gate we were conducted by a guide through part of the town, already excavated. The streets are straight and well paved with lava, which prove an eruption previous to the destruction of the city. Traces of carriage wheels still remain in the pave. The houses were generally two stories high, and had flat roofs. The walls of most of the rooms were stuccoed, painted and polished; many of the paintings and frescoes are in a good state of preservation. The apartments were paved with mosaic, some very magnificently executed. On many houses are seen the name and occupation of the owner, written in deep red; on the walls of some public buildings advertisements of gladiatorial shows, festivals, &c.
Here are seen remnants of public baths, theatres, amphitheatres, the Basilica, the houses of Sallust, Diomede, the temples of Isis, Hercules, and other gods.
We also visited Herculaneum, which lies about five miles from Naples. Some portions of the city were buried six feet deep, others one hundred feet. The towers of Resina and Portici are built over the city, which prevents much excavation. We descended by torchlight a narrow and winding staircase a considerable depth below the surface, where part of the theatre is exhibited. It is said that it was capable of containing ten thousand persons. After having visited most of the objects of antiquity in the city, I made an excursion along the coast, visiting the tomb of Virgil, and passing through the grotto of Posilippo, which is two thousand three hundred and sixty feet long, twenty-three feet broad, and eighty-nine feet high, to the small town of Pozzuoli, where St. Paul landed and remained seven days before commencing his journey to Rome. I also visited the ruins of the ancient city of Baiæ, near which are the ruins of Nero’s villa, and the hot vapor baths, which will boil an egg in two minutes. One of my most interesting excursions was to the ruins of Pæstum, about forty miles from Naples. The disease called malaria, which exists to an alarming extent in the vicinity of this ruined city, prevents travellers from visiting it at all seasons of the year. Persons should not sleep there, nor approach until an hour after sunrise. We took our supplies with us, as nothing can be obtained in this land of solitude and silence. Our sympathies were excited and charity exercised by seeing many squalid and wretched objects of malaria lying in huts upon the bare ground. This city was supposed to have been built seven hundred and twenty years before Christ, and to have been destroyed in the tenth century by the Saracens. Here are some of the finest ruins of temples in Europe. One, called the temple of Neptune, is very majestic. Its shape is quadrilateral, length one hundred and ninety-four feet, and breadth seventy-eight feet; and it has two fronts, with six minute fluted columns of the Grecian Doric order. The exterior columns, thirty-six in number, are twenty-seven feet high, and there is a Doric frieze and cornice all round the building. The situation of the high altar, and those on which victims were sacrificed and offerings made, is still visible. Fragments of sea-green and dark blue mosaic are still found on the spot. The temple of Ceres and the Basilica are still quite perfect and very beautiful. On our return through this gloomy tract of country and pestilent swamps we saw herds of buffalo, which are the only animals that inhabit it. I next visited the towns of Salerno and Amalfi, situated along the shores of the Mediterranean. The latter is bounded by lofty mountains on three sides, with beautiful cascades running through the town. The front opens on the sea. On the summit of a lofty wall is the Capuchin convent, which we visited, and then crossed the mountain of St. Angelo, over a height of four or five thousand feet. The route was difficult, but we were compensated for the fatigue by the many picturesque scenes constantly presented. At times the ascent was so rough among the craggy rocks I was compelled to dismount my donkey; at other times he would wind his course along the brink of a frightful precipice, where one mis-step would launch me into eternity. He proved as sure-footed as the herds of goats we frequently passed, jumping from one crag to another on the verge of a precipice.
I left Naples by steamer, stopping at Tropea, in Calabria, for a short time; then, passing down through the straits of Messina, we saw Scylla and Charybdis, which have been the dread of mariners so long, and about which so much has been said and sung. It is said that during tempestuous gales, the noise of the waves dashing violently against Scylla, and then precipitating themselves in the cavern, still resembles the howl of dogs and beasts of prey. The rapidity of the current here is very great, and the boiling eddies very strong. On passing the mountain of Stromboli, not far distant from Scylla, situated in the sea, I was struck with the beautiful eruption and ejection of fire, smoke, and red-hot stones, thrown up at intervals of fifteen minutes—a beautiful sight in the night.