Show bayard TAYLORS nion WION OF VE VESUVIUS pr t si OF VESUVIUS NAPLES january ath 1868 A fresh wind came from the sea and lifted tho the curtain and we beheld behold vesuvius again in full fall activity the smoke was blown northward behind the foremost peak of monte somma leaving the summit of the cone perfectly lear clear and the jets of fire thrown up from it it were so brilliantly dea def defined aneil ineil against a background of pitch kiteli dark cloud that we e could eee see the falling stones stoned fro from mour our window in naples with the naked eye by the aid of a strong field glass the wonderful spectacle was brought so near that all its ita feat feature could be observed the top of the cone resembled a shallow basin bain with chipped and cracked edges edged aud and the opening df 0 the crater lay behina it 16 apparently at some depth out gru gnu anu and around it poured a steady glow from the stream of lava running runn ing over the further side si and descending toward the atrio del cavallo Oa vallo but at intervals of not more than half a minute there were thrown up columnar jetson jets of tensest in flames to a height varying from to feet volumes of smoke dull vermillion at first but i soon boon fadin fading to a dark ash color color rolled onn off the leeward side of those fiery pillars as they rose and whirled away broadening into the darkness what seemed to be pure solid nire fire as it issued from the crater changed into a thousand scarlet sparks which turned outward on all sides in a sheaf like form and showered down again into and hud beyond the crater I 1 could roughly estimate the height of the jet jt by the time which the stones occupied in falling some of them vere fero were evidently of enormous size next day the top of the mountain was hooded in a smoke awoke and for 24 hours my observations were very fragmentary and imperfect but on the morning of the third the cone was again clear and I 1 saw lines of dense white steam rising as from fissures in the side towards naples they were not fissures however but rivers of lava which had burst forth from a new crater opened a little below the summit their rapid march downward down Aown ward was very apparent the guides have bince since said eaid that they reached the base of the great con cone of vesuvius in three hours the black promontory created by the lava java of 1858 1558 then hid the stream from view for a time and provoking clouds descended upon the mountain when night came the molten streams made themselves visible I 1 can only compare them to forked st streaks realis of lightning caught and held permanently in their place the color was as 9 Inte intensely niely transparent and aud dazzling a as that of the jets from the crater there was wag a 11 single stream from tho the outlet which parted on the the cone descended in two irregular wavy lines and met again just before reaching the the bottom on either side of these veins of fire were occasional detached sparkles Bp arkles where the lava after having crawled for some distance under the ashes and seoria scoria was forced again to to the surface sometimes a stronger flood from above made theae these hidden threads visible and attached them to the main currents whereupon other and similar fountains would gush u up p at a little further distance 1 having base of the grea great cone cono a of about a mile the lava encountered obstacles and marched more slowly I 1 came upon the bed of 1858 1853 which threw throw up a great mound in front now serving as a breakwater and forcing the stream both to the right and eft for some distance before it can find outlets to the lower slopes to the mountain late liate in the evening we saw the fire appear at the top of the deep ravine which opens below the astronomical observatory bilt but it did not seem to advance further the tho next evening we could see that it had made considerable progress and that a branch had gone off to the right toward torre del greco the lefthand left hand branch however was much muc tue the stronger and had become threatening in its aspect with a glass I 1 could observe the fall of portions of the burning baning mass down the declivities of the old lava it seemed that a day or two mora moro of th the 0 same progress would bring it to the edge of or the cultivated land ir L on the evenin evening g of the ath t here there appeared to be a diminution in the outflow from the crater the iThe right hand stream had almost cease dand nearly the whole body of lava was pressing do down wn the ravine partly filled by bythe the eruption of 1858 the weather up to this time had ho been so stormy and changeable that we had little prospects of a demun remunerative ascent of the mountain yesterday we went to resina to gave cave bave have a nearer aview and aud make inquiries of the guides it was too late for a 1 deliberate trip though dr bellows set seft out before we left and t two w or three parties of americans passed us on oil the return to naples mounting between gardens of orange and lemon trees clumps of cactus glossy carob trees and vineyards of lac lae labry ma christl christ vines we reached the 11 limit it of the cultivated felds fields in three quarters q of bf an hour the entire bay of naples from the cape of minerva to constantly in sight below us the ragged black crests of the lava fields of 1858 which had been in sight sincer leaving the suburbs of res nes resina ina lna now g gloomed bloomed loomed close at hand and the path winding around a spur of the mountain struck at last across the surface it was scarcely three quarters of a mile further to the foot of the great conee cone which now rose dark against the ak sky pouring ou ring from its crater immense va volumes tu ines 0 of steam white and lustrous as new silver the growth of yo young u ng oaks on the thle ridge soon terminated giving place to a dead waste region of black lava opening on the left into ther atrio del cavallo the bare red precipices of monte somma once a part of the moun tain itself bhone shone in the sun but on the right hand band hand band all was smoke confusion and flie nnie the double stream of lava from the crater was pouring its fluid incandescent rock into the valley and the burnla burning g mass constantly pushing from beh behind ind had already entered the tho ravine we had crossed a little distance below moving downward over the distorted lava beds of 1858 there was much smoke but little flame at tim tims a roaring rattling noise was heard but I 1 noticed no trembling or oscillation in in the earth either then or later at the edge of the old lava which here took on only lythe lytho the tho shape of loose stones we left our horses and went forward on foot there was a trodden path at first but it soon disappeared and our progress over the roiling rolling and sliding heaps eaps which aich had the sharp grit of ground roun glass lass was rather painful we had ad a already ready passed the lower point of the lava current and reached it at a point where whore the large largo eruption of the previous night had come down clown the reat keat heat and smoke increased with every step the rattling noises were continuous and lines of creeping fire became visible there appeared to bo be two streams both moving in iff the same man ner that la Is only partly flowing upon the surface of the old lava but burrowing under the loose crust splitting and up heaving it and mixing its materials with the new mass the noise of the flow was thus produced the fire was silent and irresistible there was no hiss or sputtering of the molten elements but the stream lifted and threw throw off sell solid a masses even fons tons ons in weight without the least apparent force or check I 1 had always imagined a thick sluggish stream with a tolerably smooth surface something like the therlow flow from a smelting smelling sm elting furnace but here fiere were moving mounds rough and shapeless the chief power of which lay in their bases bas es hidden from sight algat strange creeping mining forc fore forces dil iii moving forward with a horrible pitiless certainty in their manner of locomotion if the scene was less grand in iritts its features than one would expect it was at least diabolically impressive it expressed opi only deStruct destruction lon ion and of the most cold coid gloated gloo ked Ted deliberate kind tho the main astrea stream in had raised a long along ridge some twenty feet teet in height ap parent patently ly cold coid on the surface until some onlo squirming movement in advance shook off olathe the crust in scales scale sand and showing fangs and throats of In tensest fire the front of this ridge was constantly hurling huge masses some of them red hot down the gorge the nearer stream was not more than ban han four feet in height and allowed us to ap approach near enough to poke its glowing sides aides with a stick all along its edge boys were wore busy roasting eggs for travelers jor or bedding imbedding Im coins in the fluid lava which they snatched out put of the mass and twisted off ivery very much as I 1 have seen children manage molasses golass es candy the heat even everi at a hundred yards distance was uncomfortable and I 1 could not stand beside the moving lava for more than a few seconds at a time we could distinctly see the new crater just under the summit of the cone it was not in violent action and an en ter person might have climbed to within a short distance of it I 1 was not strong enough to undertake the ascent nor did I 1 feel sure that the fatigue wad would be repaid such an amount of steenland stean land and smoke issued from the opening and rose from the lava iava lavacs as it overran the lower rim that I 1 doubt whether much else eise could coula have been seen I 1 was roost interested in obe observing erving the man ner ncr in which which the lava shoved itself forward and the possibility of its cooling in such irregular forms was now explained pla ined it is not likely ilk lik el y that the present flow will reach t ill tho lower parts of the mountain as the old tei tel fields garts S over oter which pass will interpose greater obstacles to its ita movement the smoke of the eruption however I 1 finding n ing its ita way through subterranean crevices already issues from all parts of these ol 01 old oid fields and at the present rate of advance the road to the hermitage will be cut off in two or of three daismore day smore january ath glass shows nie me that the left hand stream of lava has descended considerably since yesterday the other branch toward coward torre del greco has entirely ceased to flow nhe the ehe flood flood from the crater is evidently narrower and more mora languid than heretofore which would seem to indicate dicato in that the eruption has spent its chief force As we have the mountain in view day and night I 1 shall watch its aspects with all the more interest now that I 1 haT have etten eteen seen eften something of its operations B T |