But If They Had Been Left Here,
They Would, Even Tho' A Guard Of Soldiers Were Stationed Here To Protect
Them, Have Been By Degrees All Stolen.
There were some magnificent tombs just outside the gates which must have
been no small ornament to the city.
We returned to Resina to dinner at six o'clock.
We had made an arrangement with one of the guides of Vesuvius called
Salvatore that he should be ready for us at Resina at seven o'clock with a
mule and driver for each of us to ascend the mountain, and we found him
very punctual at the door of the inn at that hour. The terms of the journey
were as follows. One scudo for Salvatore and one scudo for each mule
and driver for which they were to forward us to the mountain, remain the
whole night and reconduct us to Resina the following morning. The object in
ascending at night and remaining until morning is to combine the night view
of the eruption with the visit (if possible) to the crater, which cannot
with safety be undertaken by night, and to enjoy likewise the noble view at
sunrise of the whole bay and city of Naples and the adjacent islands. We
started therefore at a quarter past seven and arrived at half past nine at
a small house and chapel, called the hermitage of Vesuvius, which is
generally considered as half-way up the mountain. In this house dwells an
old ecclesiastic who receives travellers and furnishes them with a couch
and frugal repast. We dismounted here and our worthy host provided us with
some mortadella and an omelette; and we did not fail to do justice to his
excellent lacrima Christi, of which he has always a large provision. We
then betook ourselves to rest, leaving orders to be awakened at two o'clock
in order to proceed further up the mountain. There was a pretty decent
eruption of the mountain, which vomited fire, stones and ashes at an
interval of twenty-five minutes, so that we enjoyed this spectacle during
our ascent. A violent noise, like thunder, accompanies each eruption, which
increases the awefulness and grandeur of the sight. At two o'clock our
guide and muleteers being very punctual, we bade adieu to the hermit,
promising him to come to breakfast with him the next morning; we then
mounted our mules and after an hour's march arrived at the spot where the
ashes and cinders, combined with the steepness of the mountain, prevent the
possibility of going any further except on foot. We dismounted therefore at
this place, and sent back our mules to the hermitage to wait for us there.
We now began to climb among the ashes, and tho' the ascent to the position
of the ancient crater is not more than probably eighty yards in height, we
were at least one hour before we reached it, from its excessive steepness
and from gliding back two feet out of three at every step we made.
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