Rollo in Naples

by Jacob Abbott

Towards the mountain the travellers could see lofty peaks, with immense valleys between them. These valleys were extremely fertile and beautiful, except where recent streams of lava had flowed through them; that is, lava which had issued from the mountain within a few hundred years. From the road where the carriage was now moving, the party could look down upon the beds of these streams, and as the lava had already become partially decomposed, they looked like immense fields of rich brown soil turned up by the plough. These valleys, by which the mountain sides were furrowed, were so large, and the streams of lava in the beds of them were comparatively so small, that Mr. George said he did not wonder that the people in the towns along the sea shore were not more afraid of living so near the mountain.

"There is room enough in these valleys," said he, "to hold the lava of a thousand eruptions, before they would be filled up."

At length the carriage arrived at the Hermitage. The building stood, as Rollo had seen with his opera glass from the balcony of the hotel, at the outer extremity of a spur of the mountain, a mile or two from the foot of the great cone. The road to the foot of the great cone lay along the crest of the ridge. The observatory, which was a larger and handsomer building, stood just above and beyond it, and was surrounded with very pretty gardens.

The grounds around the Hermitage were very fertile, and though they were steep and broken, they were so laid out in vineyards and groves of mulberry trees, and the sun shone upon them so pleasantly, that they presented a very attractive appearance. The Hermitage was a plain, but neat stone building, massive and white, with a broad area before it, where a great many carriages, and also a great many donkeys and mules, all saddled and bridled, were standing. The carriage drove up rapidly, and stopped before the door.

Here followed another noise and uproar, from beggars, musicians, mule and donkey men, guides, and boys, who gathered about the carriage in a crowd as soon as it stopped, all clamoring for money or employment. Mr. George paid no attention to them, but assisting Mrs. Gray and Rosie to descend, he led the way into the house. There was a boy at the door to receive him. The boy led the way up a narrow flight of stone stairs to a sort of hall, surrounded on every side by massive walls of stone. There were two or three desolate-looking rooms opening from this hall. The room doors were open. The floors were all of stone. There were tables set in these rooms, and different parties were seated at them, partaking of refreshments that they had brought up with them in their carriages—the bags and baskets in which they had brought them up lying at their feet.

These parties were waited upon by the monk, who walked about among the guests, bringing them glasses, knives and forks, bottles of wine, and any thing else that they required. He was dressed in the costume of his order, and looked, as Rosie said, precisely like the pictures of monks which she had seen in books in America.

Philippe came up almost immediately after his party, bringing with him his basket of refreshments. He soon found a table that was unoccupied, and having placed chairs around it, he asked the monk to bring some glasses and some knives and forks.

"And now," said he, addressing Mr. George, "if you will take some refreshment here, I will go and make the preparations for continuing the ascent. I will come up again as soon as we are ready."

So Philippe went away. Mrs. Gray and Rosie sat down at the table, but the boys began to ramble about in the hall and in the rooms, to see what was to be seen, taking care, however, to go now and then to the table to get fresh pieces of bread and butter, and oranges, so as to keep themselves well supplied with provisions all the time.