What A Light It Would Have Thrown (Which
No Description Can Give) On The Melancholy Catastrophe As Well As On The
Private Life And Manners Of The Ancients!
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. We at
length reached the old crater and sat ourselves down to repose till
day-break. Tho' it was exceeding cold, the exhalation from the veins of
fire and hot ashes kept us as warm as we could wish: for here every step is
literally
per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso.[97]
We remained on this spot till broad daylight and witnessed several
eruptions at an interval of twenty or twenty-five minutes. I remarked that
the mountain toward the summit forms two cones, one of which vomited fire
and smoke, and the other calcined stones and ashes, accompanied by a
rumbling noise like thunder. The stones came clattering down the flanks of
the mountain and some of them rolled very near us; had we been within the
radius formed by the erupted stones we probably should have been killed.
At daylight Mr R - - D - - proposed to ascend the two cones in spite of the
remonstrances of our guide Salvatore, who told us that no person had yet
been there and that we must expect to be crushed to death by the stones,
should an eruption take place, and that it was almost as much madness to
attempt it, as it would be to walk before a battery of cannon in the act of
being fired. Tho' I did not admit all the force of this comparison, yet I
began to think there was a little too much risk in the attempt; my French
friend however was deaf to all remonstrance and said to me, "As-tu peur?"
I replied: "No! that I was at all times very indifferent as to life or
death, but that I did not like pain, and was not at all desirous to have an
arm or leg broken, the former accident having happened to a German a few
days before; nevertheless, I added, if you persist in going, I will
accompany you." We accordingly started to ascend the cone, which vomited
fire and smoke, taking care to place ourselves on the windward side in
ascending, and after much fatigue we arrived in about fifteen minutes close
to the apex of the cone, after groping amidst the ashes and stumbling on a
vein of red hot cinders. My shoes were sadly burnt, my stockings singed and
my feet scorched; my friend was less fortunate, for he tumbled down with
his hands on a vein of red hot cinders and burned them terribly. My great
and principal apprehension in making this ascent was of stumbling upon
holes slightly encrusted with ashes and that the whole might give way and
precipitate me into some gouffre. On arrival at the summit of the cone we
had just time to look down and perceive that there was a hole or gouffre,
but whether it were very deep or not we could not ascertain, for a blast of
fire and smoke issuing from it at this moment nearly suffocated us; we
immediately lost no time in gliding down the ashes on the side of the cone
on our breech, and reached its base in a few seconds, where we waited till
an eruption took place from the other cone, in order to profit of the
interval to ascend it also.
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