light, and without a cloud. This kind of electrical fire feemed to be harmless, and never to reach the ground; whereas that with which the black volcanic cloud of laft night was pregnant appeared mifchievous, like the lightning that attends a fevere thunder ftorm, as we should undoubtedly have experienced had the eruption continued longer, and the cloud fpread over Naples. The fame kind of lightning proved fatal to feveral people, and did great damage within the space of many miles round Vefuvius during its great eruption of 1631, as is mentioned in one of my former letters on this fubject. During this day's eruption, the relics of St. Januarius were carried in proceffion, and expofed to the furious mountain from the bridge of the Maddalena, amidst a prodigious concourfe of people, who are at this moment well convinced, that to this ceremony alone Naples may attribute its happy escape. It was from their Sicilian majefties palace at Paufilipo that I made my obfervations on this day's eruption, and in the prefence of their majefties, who had been pleased to fend for me in the morning, as foon as the volcano became turbulent. Tuesday, Auguft 10, Vefuvius was quiet. Wednesday, Aug. 11, about fix o'clock in the morning, the fifth and laft fever-fit of the mountain came on, and gradually encreafed. About twelve o'clock, it was at its height *, and very violent indeed, the explofions being louder than thofe that attended the former eruptions: we could not judge of the height of the vollies of ftones and fcoriæ, as fome rainy clouds were blended with the volcanic ones, and hid the upper part of the cone and crater of Vesuvius from our view. The fame mountains of white cotton-like clouds, piled one over another, rofe to fuch an extraordinary height, and formed fuch a coloffal mafs over Vefuvius, as cannot poffibly be defcribed, or fcarcely imagined. It may have been from a fcene of this kind,. that the ancient poets took their ideas of the giants waging war with Jupiter. About five o'clock in the evening the eruption ceafed, fome rain having fallen this day, which having been greatly impregnated with the corrofive falts of the volcano, did much damage to the vines in its neighbourhood. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 12 and 13, Vefuvius continued to fmoke confiderably, and at times flight explofions were heard, like cannon at a great distance; but there have been no more throws from its crater, nor any ftreams of lava from its flanks, fince Wednesday laft. On Saturday, Aug. 15, I went, accompanied by Count Lamberg, the imperial minister at this court, to vifit Ottaiano and Caccia-bella, the diftrict which had been moft feverely treated by the heavy and deftructive shower of volcanic mat *It has been remarked by the oldeft people in the neighbourhood of Vefuvius, that in its eruptions the volcano is fubject to a crifis at noon and midnight; and indeed, from my own obfervation, I believe that remark to be well founded. ter ter from the crater of Vefuvius laft Sunday night. Soon after having paffed the town of Somma, we began to perceive that the heat of the fiery fhower which had fallen in its neighbourhood had affected the leaves of the trees and vines, which we found ftill more parched and shrivelled in proportion as we approached the town of Ottaiano, which may be about three miles from Somma. At about the dif tance of a mile from Somma, we began to perceive fresh cinders or fcoriæ of lava, thinly fcattered on the road and in the fields. Every ftep we advanced we found them of a larger dimenfion, and in greater abundance. At the distance of a mile and a half from Ottaiano, the foil was totally covered by them, and the leaves and fruit were either entirely ftripped from the trees, or remained thinly on them, fhrivelled and dried up by the intense heat of the volcanic fhower. After having paffed through the moft fertile country, abounding with trees loaded with fruits of every kind, and the moft luxuriant vegetation, through gay villages crowded with chearful inhabitants, to come at once to fuch a fcene of defolation and mifery, affording to our view nothing but heaps of black cinders and ashes, blafted trees, ruined houfes, with a few of their scattered inhabitants just returned with ghaftly, difmayed countenances, to furvey the havock done to their tenements and habitations, and from which they themselves had with much difficulty efcaped alive on Sunday laft, was fuch a melancholy fcene, as can neither be defcribed or forgotten. We found the roof of his Sicilian majefty's sporting feat at Caccia bella much damaged by the fall of large ftones and heavy fcoriæ, fome of which, after having been broken by their fall through the roof, still weighed upwards of thirty pounds. This place, in a direct line, cannot be less than four miles from the crater of Vesuvius. The most authentic accounts have been received of the fall of fmall volcanic ftones and cinders (fome of which weighed two ounces) at Benevento, Foggia, and Monte Mileto, upwards of thirty miles from Vefuvius; but what is most extraordinary (as there was but little wind during the eruption of the eighth of Auguft) minute ashes fell thick that very night upon the town of Manfredonia, which is at the distance of an hundred miles from Vefuvius †. *The Prince of Monte Mileto told me, that his fon, the Duke of Popoli, who was at Monte Mileto the 8th of Auguft, had been alarmed by the shower of cinders that fell there, fome of which he had fent to Naples, weighing two ounces; and that tones of an ounce had fallen upon an eftate of his ten miles farther off. Monte Mileto is about thirty miles from the volcano. The Abbe Galini, well known in the literary world, told me, that his fifter, a nun in a Convent at Manfredonia, had wrote to enquire after him, imagining that Naples must have been deftroyed, when they, at fo great a dif tance, had been so much alarmed by a fhower of minute ashes, which fell on that city at eleven o'clock at night, Aug. 8, as to open all the churches, and go to prayers. As the great eruption happened at nine o'clock at night, the hes must have travelled an hundred miles within the short-space of two hours. Thefe G 2 Thefe facts feem to confirm the extreme fuppofed height of the column of fire that iffued from the crater of Vefuvius laft Sunday night, and are greatly in fupport of what we find recorded in the hiftory of Vesuvius with respect to the fall of its afhes at an amazing distance, and in a fhort space of time, during its violent eruptions. We proceeded from Caccia-bella to Ottaiano, which is a mile nearer to Vefuvius, and is reckoned to contain twelve thousand inhabitants. Nothing could be more difmal than the fight of this town, unroofed, half buried under black fcoriæ and ashes; all the windows towards the mountain broken, and fome of the houfes themfelves burnt; the streets choaked up with thefe afhes (in fome that were narrow, the ftratum was not lefs than four feet thick); and a few of the inhabitants juft returned were employed in clearing them away, and piling up the afhes in hillocks to get at their ruined houfes. Others were affembled in little groups, enquiring after their friends and neighbours, relating each other's woes, croffing themselves, and lifting up their eyes to Heaven when they mentioned their miraculous efcapes. Some Monks, who were in their convent during the whole of the horrid fhower, gave us the following particulars, which they related with folemnity and precision. The mountain of Somma, at the foot of which Ottaiano is fituated, hides Vefuvius from its fight, fo that till the eruption became confiderable, it was not vifible to them. On Sunday night, when the noise encreased, and the fire began to appear above the mountain of Somma, many of the inbabitants of this town flew to the churches, and others were preparing to quit the town, when a fudden violent report was heard; foon after which they found themselves involved in a thick cloud of smoke and minute afhes: a horrid clashing noise was heard in the air, and prefently fell a deluge of ftones and large fcoriæ, fome of which fcoriæ were of the diameter of feven or eight feet, and must have weighed more than an hundred pounds before they were broken by their fall, as fome of the fragments of them, which I picked up in the ftreets, ftill weighed upwards of fixty pounds. When thefe large vitrified maffes either ftruck against one another in the air, or fell on the ground, they broke in many pieces, and covered a large space around them with vivid fparks of fire, which communicated their heat to every thing that was combuftible *. In an inftant the town and country about it was on fire in many parts; for in the vineyards there were several straw huts, which had been erected for the watchmen of the grapes, all of which were burnt. A great magazine of wood in the heart of the town was all in a blaze, and, had there been much wind, the flames must have spread univerfally, and all the inhabitants would have infallibly been * These maffes were formed of the liquid lava, the exterior parts of which had become black and porous by cooling in the long traverfe they had made through the air, whilft the interior parts, less exposed, retained an extreme heat, and were perfectly red. burnt burnt in their houfes, for it was impoffible for them to ftir out. Some who attempted it with pillows, tables, chairs, the tops of wine cafks, &c. on their heads, were either knocked down, or foon driven back to their clofe quarters under arches, and in the cellars of their houses. Many were wounded, but only two perfons have died of the wounds they received from this dreadful volcanic fhower. To add to the horror of the scene, inceffant volcanic lightning was whisking about the black cloud that furrounded them, and the fulphureous fmell and heat would fcarcely allow them to draw their breath. In this miferable and alarming fituation they remained about twenty-five minutes, when the volcanic ftorm ceased all at once, and the frightened inhabitants of Ottaiano, apprehending a fresh attack from the turbulent mountain, haftily quitted the country, after having depofited the fick and bed. ridden, at their own defire, in the churches. Had the eruption lafted an hour longer, Ottaiano muft have remained exactly in the state of Pompeia, which was buried under the afhes of Vefuvius juft 1700 years ago, with most of its inhabitants, whose bones are to this day frequently found under arches and in the cellars of the houses of that ancient city. We were told of many miracles that had been wrought by the images of faints at this place during the late difafter; but, as they are quite foreign to my purpose, I fhall, as ufual, pass them over in filence. The palace of the Prince of Ot taianó is fituated on an eminence above the town, and nearer the mountain: the fteps leading up to it, being deeply covered with volcanic matter, refembled the cone of Vefuvius, and the white marble ftatues on the balustrade made a fingular appearance peeping from under the black afhes, which had entirely covered both the baluftrade and their pedestals. The roof of the palace was totally deftroyed, and the windows were broken; but the house itself, being ftrongly built, had not fuffered much. We had an opportunity of feeing here exactly the quality of the dreadful fhower, as the volcanic matter which broke through the roof of the palace, and fell into the garrets, on the balconies and in the courts, had not been removed. It was compofed of the fcoriæ of fresh lava much vitrified, great and fmall, mixed with fragments of ancient folid lavas of different forts: many pieces were enveloped by the new lava, which formed a cruft about them; and others were only flightly varnished by the fresh lava. Thefe kind of ftones being very compact, and fome weighing eight or ten pounds, must have fallen with greater force than the heavier fcoriæ, which were very porous, and had the great furface above-mentioned. The palace of Ottaiano is built on a thick ftratum of ancient lava, which ran from the mountain of Somma when in its active volcanic ftate. Under this ftratum we were fhewn three grottoes, from which iffues a conftant extreme cold wind, and at times with impetuofity, and a noife like water dafhing upon rocks. They are G 3 fhut fhut up with doors like cellars, and are made ufe of as fuch, as alfo to keep provisions fresh and to cool liquors. I had never feen thefe ventavoli before. In my letter to Dr. Maty, upon the nature of the foil round Naples, I have mentioned others of the fame kind that I had met with on Vefuvius, Etna, and in the island of Ifchia*. We obferved, that the tract of country completely covered with a ftratum of the volcanic matter above mentioned was about two miles and a half broad, and as much in length, in which space the vines and fruit-trees were totally ftript of their leaves and fruit, and had the appearance of being quite burnt up; but, to my great furprize, having visited that country again two days ago, I faw thofe very trees, which were apple, pear, peach, and apricot, in blof. fom again, and fome with the fruit already formed, and of the fize of hazle nuts. The vines there had alfo put forth fresh leaves, and were in bloom. Many foxes, hares, and other game, were deftroyed by the fiery fhower in the diftrict of Somma and Ottaia no t. His Sicilian majefty, whofe goodnefs of heart inclines him on all occafions to fhew his benevolence and affift the unfortunate, has or dered a confiderable fum of money to be diftributed among the unhappy fufferers of Ottaiano and its neighbourhood. On the 18th of September I went upon Mount Vefuvius, accompanied by Lord Herbert and my ufual guide. We could not poffibly reach its crater, being covered with a thick smoke, too fulphureous and offenfive to be encountered; neither would it have been prudent to have ventured up, had there not been that impediment, as it was evident, from the loud reports we heard from time to time, that there exifted ftill a great fermentation within the bowels of the volcano. We therefore contented ourfelves with examining the effects of the late extraordinary eruption on its cone, and in the valley between it and the mountain of Somma. The conical part of Vefuvius is now covered with fragments of lava and fcoriæ, which makes the afcent much more difficult and troublesome than when it was only covered with minute afhes. The particularity of this laft eruption was, that the lava which usually ran out of the flanks of the volcano, forming cafcades, rivers, and rivulets of liquid fire, was now chiefly thrown up from its crater in the form of a gigantic fountain *At Cefi, in the Roman State, towards the Adriatic, there are many such ventaroli; and the inhabitants of that town, by means of leaden pipes, conduct the fresh air from them into the very rooms of their houses, fo that by turning a cock they can cool them to any degree. Some who have refined still more upon this luxury, by fmaller pipes, bring this cold air under the dining table, so as to cool the bottle of liquor upon it. + Having had the honour of being on a fhooting party lately with the King of Naples, at the foot of Vefuvius and Somma, several dead hares were found, and we killed others whofe backs were quite bare, the fur having been finged off of them by the hot ashes. of |