| Show a P IERE seems to bo be no question fuestion ue stion that lava properly pulverized aged and irrigated makes makos a eoll sell as vie rich as any in tact fact the plain back of naples to the north of vesuvius la Is noted ae as being one of tho the moat most productive tracts in europe for distance up the foot of tho the mountain itself there are nourishing flourishing vines and clumps of small trees but at the point which we bad had now reached in our climb up the south sido side of 0 vesuvius all vegetation save for a few coarse grasses ceased the groat great bulk of tho the mountain rose be foro fore us as black and hard and bare as a pilo of slag tho the sweet scented yellow flowers springing hero and there from crevices seemed by contrast only to heighten the desolation writes paul scott in chicago dally daily news there aro are not even mountain streams on vesuvius the water of tho rains sluices off immediately through the jagged gullies of those scorched sides as from a root we passed o ik 0 plateau where the italian government had recently planted vinos vines and hardy saplings in an effort to hold back a part of the rainfall rainfalls not one twig or tendril but was as withered and lifeless the path itself swinging 1 n wido wide ascending loops was A as built liko like a causeway over the grotesquely tumbled masses of lava it was as if it some fanciful hand had squeezed this lava molten from soft tubes with mouths on what seemed to bo be a platform cut I 1 in tho the lava pietro sung out to them and they set the air ringing with their answers twenty minutes later we wore were dismounting among them thorn this as tho the end of tho the bridle path the final climb bad had to bo be mado made on fo foot ot I 1 have never been seen n more villainous looking band than tho the six brawny big mustached follows follos who now offered to carry us on their shoulders up to tho crat edgo edge within an hour as wo w were about to start down again they would bo be amir kingly begging their tida in the most obsequious manner of tho bouthern southern italian peasantry but at pros pres ent they seemed the ideal types of the brigand with the greatest di we succeeded in convincing them that wo we preferred ferrod not to be carried but to walk unaided to our surprise they all started up with ith us just tho the same we von wondered dered if they enjoyed tho the exorcise exercise but learned presently they had more venal motives the path if it may bo be called a path wae was extremely trying it rose to an angle of about 4 49 degrees and was aas composed compo eed of slipping ashes to a depth of six to ten inches climbing michigan sandhills sand hills Is childs play to climbing this last lap of tho the fiorenza florenza bradlo path our progress was hampered at al most every step by tho the importunities of the mountaineers assuring ue us that we were tiring ourselves all out that we e really must mount upon their shoulders now or at least lot them 1 YA MY V HAMM as big as hogsheads hog here tho the black element squirmed down in a countless series of perpendicular loops like a worm here it lay rippled like soft mud into which aich a stone has just been dropped hero it was smooth and glazed here broken and porous and we traversed one strange region where it had writhed itself into a multitude of monstrous shapes nude contorted men and women disemboweled cled beasts detached beads heads and legs and arms and torsos emerging horribly from the mass ono was w as reminded of OF f dantos dantes vision of hell bell panorama is wondern J it was a relief to raise ones eyes from this depressing sculpture to the panorama beyond we had now attained a considerable height about halt a mile below us was as a sort of hollow which na pietro explained was the crater that had poured the stream of 1906 down upon busco dusco we could trace the meander meanderings inks ol 01 this dark river plainly everywhere in the broad valley villages were visible and la in their midst paler than the reet rest wae was one which we identa identified fled as the ru bulna ins ot of Porn pompeii pell but the true splendor lay farther to the right where veiled in haze the mellow sun bung hung over the bay of naples that arm of purple upon the horizon was the peninsula of sorrento that saddle of mountains mou stains rising lust just beyond it from the aea a wa was capri the island of goats the trail grew grow steeper than ever 9 wb neared the summit the bonea borses climbed nobly pietro and giuseppe Olus eppe lad had let lot go their the r tails tail but did not cease coning cursing t them tm forward an and d a switching w it ch ing presently ae as we their tough bides staggered ered around a black boulder shoulder we hahold high above ua Us a group of men haul us at the end of their straps we aare ero still panting no nol not nov not whoa we came perspiring breathless and momentarily exhausted to the top once hero here our escort was forgotten before us lay the very mouth and throat of all vesuvius I 1 bad had otten often pictured it to 0 o myself in imagination on the whole tt it proved less spectacular than any of my iny fancies though it was perhaps anoia Jm impressive ite its shape was that of an inverted cone three quarters of a mile in diameter and several bun hun dred yards deep its it sides were here and there precipitous from landslides at the lowest point a dp lip of rock seemed to form the entrance to a caa err and from this cavern there issued a continuous volume of white vapor which crept to the top of the crater and trailed away ray on the breeze As I 1 looked about those uncertain slopes streaked unwholesomely with dark red and purple and the yellow of sul chur I 1 had no doubt that the recent descent of certain professors into the gas infested bottom of the pit was as the newspaper correspondent bad had said daring I 1 turned away immediate ly at my feet was a ledge of lava and from under it just as down there in the crater of 0 steam were rising I 1 put my iny bend hand on the ledge it wax was warm I 1 felt into a crevice of the layr and quickly drew my finger fingers away again so great van the heat the guides were grinning are you satisfied they asked me a yes come along thea thel in indian file we slid lid with long skating down through the cinder cinders to where little gouseppe Gol waa was waiting with ane horses is 46 4 |
