| Show Rivers of Mud Inundated Herculaneum I Town Named for Hercules Strong Hero Herculaneum or the Town of Hercules was one of the villages around Mount Vesuvius long ago It was settled by colonists from Greece and later was occupied by Romans The name was given in honor of Hercules the Greek and Roman hero observes a writer in inthe Inthe Inthe the Portland Oregonian When a volcano breaks loose It throws out material of different kinds Ashes stones and cinders fly into the air and a great deal of steam may rise Now and then a deadly gas gns sweeps through the countryside and chokes chok s those In Its path More Mor Mo often the damage is done Ione by bi bilava lava a kind of rock which can be so hot that it runs as at a liquid Herculaneum did not suffer Luller mush much mu h from the fall of cinders or ashes The damage was done by streams of hot mud or or- orr mud lava r ud-l ud va as it has been called It is believed that the streams of mud lava mud lava were formed by thou thou- thousands thousands sands of gallons of hot water which welled from the volcano and mixed with powdered rock around the cone Down the mountainside flowed the mud lava and covered many homes Including those in We may ma guess the feelings of the people as they th y saw sa w the thick dark rivers coming corning toward their little ciry The population was about Old and young and middle aged fled from their homes Almost Almott Almo t all aU all if not all escaped Thay y jumped into boats and rowed or sailed away away- or escaped by b running to w Naples The people were saved but their homes were buried burled under the mud mud- like stuff to a depth of from 30 to 60 feet Not quite years ago an Aus Austrian trian prince who had come to Italy to live ordered a well to w be dug near the edge of a town which had grown up on the side of Mount Vesuvius The workmen struck a astone astone astone stone wall some distance down and wondered what it had been used for tor The prince ordered a great deal deel more digging to be done and It was found that the wail was part port of an ancient theater of the open air Greek type Marble statues and other relics were found as well In later years Spaniards Eng Eng- Englishmen Englishmen and Italians carried on dig dig- digging digging digging ging and drilling Step by step they brought to light parts of f an an- ancient anci dent ci nt Herculaneum Much work has been done during the past few years and a good part of the town is now In view Scores of houses have been laid bare along with the theater a temple and other public buildings The mud-lava mud saved some things at Herculaneum which were oat not so sowell sowell o well saved at Pompeii Most im fin important is the wooden framework of houses Stairways doors and win win- window window dow frames all of wood are to be seen after being cased in the mud for from 16 18 to 18 centuries Here is It a cupboard with necklaces and other Jewelry in it when the volcano erupted In another cup cup- cupboard cupboard board we find nd the shells of eggs eggs' which would have been cooked if U Uthe the life of o the town had gone on |
