“A few minutes afterwards we met a cart bringing down a dead body, and as we went on we saw other bodies—at least twelve—of which one only appeared to be living. They were frightfully burned on the face and hands, and some, which were carried on chairs, in a sitting position, were very ghastly objects. Further on we met people—officials, apparently—coming down, all warning us to go back. At last, when we had arrived at an elbow of the road not far below the Observatory, we met the officer who has charge of the Observatory, who said we could not go on; that the danger was imminent; that the lava was running across and down the road before us; that he had orders from the prefect of Naples to prevent any one ascending, and that we could not pass. My coachman was getting a little anxious, though I will do him the justice to say he was not afraid; so I consented not to take the carriage beyond a turn in the road above us to the right, especially as I did not wish to meet the lava in a narrow road where we could not turn the carriage. We left the carriage there, and ascended on foot with the guide by a path straight up the mountain-side.
“At length we stood on the edge of the flat ground reaching to the foot of the cone. Currents of lava were running down on both sides of us far below; the craters from which they flowed were hidden by the smoke; clouds of smoke were ascending from the top of the cone, and the lava still pouring down the Atrio. The roar of the mountain, which we had first heard at Portici was now tremendous, continuous, and unlike anything else I ever heard,—millions of peals of thunder rolling at the same time,—when suddenly, about noon, there was a cessation, with a low, rolling sound; and one heard the ticking and rippling of the lava currents pouring down the hill-sides below. Then, in about a minute, came a deafening roar, shaking the ground under our feet; and a new crater burst forth just on the other side of the Observatory, as it seemed to us, and dense clouds of ashes and stones were thrown up into the air on the left hand of, and mingling with, the great white cloud, making a great contrast with the dark-brown dust and ashes, which rose perpendicularly to an immense height. The roaring continued and kept on increasing till it became deafening, and I began to think it might injure our ears. We staid there about an hour and a half.
A MAGNIFICENT SCENE.
“The scene was magnificent, the smoke occasionally clearing away and giving us the view towards the Atrio, that towards the cone being always clear; but as some of our party fancied that the ground might open under our feet, and that we might find ourselves in the midst of a new crater, I at length reluctantly sent the guide to bring up the carriage. Had I been alone I should have staid there till the evening. When we had gone down a short distance the same phenomena again appeared. The sudden cessation of the tremendous roaring, the clicking and rippling of the falling lava, and the low muttering became then again audible; then the fearful roar, and the shaking of the ground, and another crater burst forth on the flank of the mountain, below the Observatory, sending up clouds of dust and ashes, which rolled over and over till they reached an enormous height, but quite separate from the other clouds. All this time the sun was shining in an Italian sky without a cloud.
“After stopping some time to admire the scene, we continued our descent; but before we reached the bottom of the hill we saw the lava from the last crater tearing its way down through the vineyards to our right with wonderful rapidity. Just an hour after we left the top of the hill the cone commenced sending up torrents of stones, which fell in all directions; but whether the red-hot hail reached our position on the height I know not. When we reached Resina it was curious to see the congratulations for what they thought our escape on the faces of the people. The uncertainty and the panic were gone, and they were steadily packing up their beds and the few things they could carry, and starting with every sort of conveyance to put their guardian saint, St. Gennaro, between them and the danger. When I started from Naples I expected to find all the world at the top of the mountain; but, to my great surprise, there was not a single stranger there—only the few persons employed in bringing down the dead. I believe the police prevented any carriage passing after ours. The awful roaring of the mountain continued and increased till midnight, when it ceased, and only roared again for a short time about four o’clock. To-day the mountain is quieter, and the Neapolitans are a trifle less pale. The view of the mountain at midnight was grand in the extreme.”
THE ERUPTION SUBSIDING.
Several villages were destroyed in this eruption, and many acres of vines were covered with lava and ashes. But as soon as the eruption was over, many of those who had fled returned to whatever of their old homes they could find. There is something strange in the fascination of the people for the places which they are well aware are liable at any time to the lava torrent or the storm of ashes. Eruptions have occurred, and will occur again; but all the reasoning you can offer would not induce these Italian peasants to go and live elsewhere.
At the present time Professor Palmieri reports from his observatory, near the top of the crater, that symptoms have been observed by him which indicate a new eruption, and strange to say, the Italians, who are accustomed to live constantly in danger, quietly look out for the occurrence, living at the very foot of the death-dealing mountain. The soil is extremely fertile, and eagerness for wealth seems here even to expel fear for death.