and other yielding volcanic matter, into which your legs sink, and where you lose at least one out of every three steps you take. Even hardy and active men have been known to throw themselves down on the sides of the cone in a complete state of exhaustion, long before they could reach the top; but the summit once gained, fatigue is repaid by prospects of beauty which are scarcely rivalled upon earth. Naples, and all the towns which we have mentioned, lie at your feet; before you flows the magnificent bay, studded with islands; and inland stretches the luxuriant plain of Campagna Felice, with cities and towns, and with villas and hamlets, almost too numerous to count, while the sweeping chain of the Apennines forms the extreme background to the picture.

We have noticed the views first, as they are of greater interest than the interior of the crater. This is nothing, in ordinary times, but a great funnel, shaped hollow, round the edges of which you can walk in perfect safety, and look down the curious depth. A modern writer, who descended into it in the summer of 1816, when the mountain had been inactive for some years, emitting only from time to time a little smoke, thus describes his progress:

"Provided with ropes, which the ciceroni, or guides, held at the edge of the hollow, he and a friend went down the shelving side for about one hundred and fifty feet, when they landed on a circular flat that sounded hollow beneath their feet, but presented nothing very remarkable, except a number of furmorali, or little holes, through which smoke ascended. The interior of the crater was coated with lapilla and sulphur, and in color a yellowish white. The fumes of the sulphur and the pungent smoke, from the little holes at the bottom of the crater, compelled a very speedy retreat, which was made with some difficulty, and without any addition to their knowledge of volcanoes. It must be observed that this principal crater, on the summit of the mountain, is always considerably altered in its form and features when the eruption proceeds from it, and moreover, that it is by no means the sole vent which the subterranean fire of Vesuvius finds. On the contrary, the fire and lava often issue from the sides of the mountain far below, while the superior funnel only emits smoke. In the winter of 1820, a mouth was found at the foot of the superior cone, and nearly on a level with the hermitage of San Salvatore. To use a homely comparison, this vent was not unlike the mouth of a baker's oven; but a consid erable stream of lava, which, when in a state of perfect fusion, resembles molten iron, issued from it, and flowed down a chasm in the direction of Torre-del-Greco, the place which has so often suffered from the eruptions. A singular and deliberate suicide was committed here. An unhappy Frenchman walked up the mountain, and threw himself in at the source of this terrific stream. The men who conducted him said afterward, that he had a quantity of gunpowder about his person! He scarcely could have needed its agency, for the intense fire must have consumed him, skin, flesh, and bones, in a very few seconds. But though the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius do not always proceed from the grand crater, it must also be said, that those that do are by far the most sublime in their effects, and that nothing can well be im agined more picturesque and striking, than to see, by night, the summit of that lofty cone crowned by fire, as it frequently is, for many succeeding weeks. The finest view under those circumstances is from the bay, over the waters of which it often happens that the moon throws a broad path of silvery light in one direction, and the volcano the blood-red reflections of its flames in another."

The earliest and one of the most fatal eruptions of Vesuvius is that previously mentioned, which took place in 79, in the reign of Titus. All Campagna was filled with consternation, and the country was overwhelmed with devastation in every direction: towns, villages, palaces, and "all which they inherit," were consumed by molten lava, and hidden from the sight by showers of volcanic stones, cinders, and ashes. Pompeii had suffered severely from an earthquake sixteen years before the eruption of 79, and had been rebuilt and adorned with many a stately building, particularly a magnificent theatre, where thousands were congregated to see the gladiatorial shows, when this tremendous visitation burst upon the devoted city, and burying its site to a considerable depth with the fiery materials thrown from the crater. "Day was turned into night," says a classic author, "and night into darkness; an inexpressible quantity of dust and ashes was poured out, deluging land, sea, and air, and burying two entire cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, while the people were sitting in the theatre."

It was during the eruption of 79, that Pliny, the naturalist, fell a victim to suffoca

tion, as did Agrippa. The particulars of the eruption of 1779 are known to every schoolboy, and although vividly described by Sir William Hamilton (an eyewitness), it is unnecessary to quote, because their details, able as they are, would be but a repetition of the younger Pliny and Dion Cassius, with modern dates. We shall close our account by an able description of the eruption of 1822, from the pen of the writer we have before quoted :

"The volcano had been unusually quiet for several months, without so much as a wreath of smoke proceeding from the great crater, or from any part of it, when suddenly, on a Sunday evening, late in the month of October, two columns of fire were seen to ascend from the summit of the great cone. The quantity of fire was inconsiderable. The burning stones and other ignited matter seemed all to fall back into the broad crater from which they were ejected, and there was no appearance that this would be anything more than one of the frequent minor eruptions that cause neither mischief nor alarm. During the night the eruption continued as it had begun. On Monday the mountain offered only a small column of smoke. When the sun set, and darkness came on, the fire was again visible on the top of the cone, but during the whole of Monday night there was no increase, and on Tuesday morning the volume of smoke was as insignificant as on the preceding day. But about two hours past noon on Tuesday, all at once, a rumbling noise, of terrific loudness, was heard, and the next instant an immense column of fleecy smoke burst from the crater, and towered slowly and majestically upward, until it attained an extreme elevation in the atmosphere, when it spread itself laterally, and for some time continued to present a consistent and defined form, like that of the Italian pine-tree. In this it was a beautiful object, its form being graceful, and its flaky, white color relieved by the deep, pure blue of an Italian sky. But soon other throbs and groans of the volcano were heard, smoke of a dark brown color burst from the crater, the head of the gigantic column swelled in size, and spreading in all directions, and becoming darker and darker, soon covered every part of the sky, and lost all shape. By this time alarm had struck, not only the population in the immediate neighborhood of the mountain, but the inhabitants of Naples itself.

"All thronged to the shores of the bay, or to the hills, or to the outside of the town, to gaze with terrified looks at Vesuvius. But it was not until the fall of night that the scene displayed all its terrors. Then an immense pillar of fire was seen to rise from the cone, and red-hot stones and disrupted rocks to ascend with it, and in their descent either to fall back into the crater, or to roll down the outside of the cone with fearful violence and rapidity. To this there was no pause. The pillar of fire never grew paler or less, and the burning stones and rocks succeeded each other without intermission or decrease. If our readers could imagine ten thousand pieces of ordnance discharging red-hot shot in the air, in conjunction with ten thousand of the greatest rockets, still they would leave an inadequate idea of this mighty eruption, and of the noise that accompanied it.

"The column of fire threw a horrid blood glare over part of the bay, and a small portion of the sky; while from the dense clouds of smoke that continually increased, the most vivid forked lightning flashed at every second. The ghastly blue of these long zigzag flashes contrasted strangely with the red color of the volcanic fire, and, as they darted on either side, and high above the head of the pillar, rising from the crater, they produced an effect which baffles all description of the pen, or the ingenuity of the pencil. To all this must be added that a continuous issue of lava now came from the cone, and rolled down toward the sea, as a vast river of fire, while another stream of lava, scarcely less in magnitude, but not visible from Naples, flowed in the direction of the now disinterred city of Pompeii. Through the crowded city terror seemed to keep all eyes open, and numerous processions with figures of madonnas and saints were seen hurrying to particular churches, and the suburbs facing Vesuvius, to implore the protection of Heaven. On the road to Portici the scene was still more melancholy: thousands and thousands of affrighted peasants from villages on the mountain's sides, and towns-people from Portici, Resina, the Torre-del-Greco, and other villages, were flying toward Naples, with such of their property as they could remove, or were lying out in the fields, or on the road near to the walls of the capital. The aged and the infirm, weeping women, and helpless children, were huddled together, with the conviction that their homes, their gardens, and their vineyards, must inevitably be consumed and buried by the descending lava.

"The writer reached Resina, and thence walked up the mountain to the hermitage of San Salvatore, which is situated on a flat at the foot of the terminating cone, in which is the great crater. Here he found several English, and among them some ladies, whose anxiety to view this sublime spectacle near at hand had conquered their fears. From the hermitage he advanced nearer to the cone, and then descended into a hollow, through which the great river of lava was flowing. As he approached it, he saw it come in contact with a fine large vineyard. The low dried vines were set on fire immediately, and, blazing all over in an instant, the destructive element spread to another and another vineyard, until considerable mischief was done.

"The lava, as in every eruption he has seen, so far from being rapid, was exceedingly slow in its course, flowing only a few feet in a minute. At this time it seemed tending directly to the unfortunate town of Torre-del-Greco, which it threatened to overwhelm, but it afterward turned aside, and, following another hollow, rolled into a wide and deep chasm of the mountain. He then attempted to ascend by the side of this burning river toward the cone, but its heat, which set fire to brushwood and. little trees at several feet distance, became insupportable. At every throe of the volcano the mountain shook beneath his feet, and he was already so near that the lapilla from the crater fell upon him like hail. This sort of ash, which is called lapilla, is an exceedingly light and porous substance, resembling pumice-stone; and though it fell so thickly, and in pieces as large as walnuts, it caused little annoy ance. But the heat, as it has been said, was insupportable; and as the fumes of the sulphur became still more so, causing a most disagreeable sensation of suffocation, he returned to the hermitage. In a short time the quantity of smoke was so great, and was so black, that it obscured the lava that produced it. Nothing could now be seen distinctly, except the lightning flashing through a pitchy sky, and a part of a column of fire from the crater, looking a lurid red. The noise, tremendous even as far off as Naples, was, at a spot so near the hermitage, utterly astounding. It should be noticed that this noise was produced by the passage through the air of the matter which the volcano ejected, and then the fall of that matter: for the forked lightning was unaccompanied by thunder-it only played close round and above the crater, and seemed produced by electric fluid issuing thence, and to depend on the dense black clouds that flanked the ascending column of fire.

"The violence of this eruption was little abated for two days and nights. Fortunately, however, the lava, in the course it took, did not find any town or village to destroy, and the lapilla, and ashes and dust, that fell in almost inconceivable quanti ties in every place in the neighborhood, were not difficult to remove, and indeed (that being the rainy season) were mainly washed away by the heavy rains shortly after. "When the smoke cleared away from the mountain, which it did not for many days, it was perceived that the eruption had carried away the edges or lips of the crater, and materially altered the shape and lowered the cone of Vesuvius. The lava, by this time, though its outer coating had cooled to such a degree that you could walk over it, still burned beneath; and it was many days more before what had been rivers of liquid fire became cold.

"The main stream of lava was about fifty feet wide on an average. It ran for more than a mile; and had not the eruption ceased and stopped at its fountain-head, even in the direction it had taken, it would have soon destroyed a beautiful district between Vesuvius and the sea."

CHAPTER XVII.-ITALY.

PESTUM.-Travellers seldom leave Italy without visiting the most magnificent ruins to be found in the world, viz., those of Pæstum. This city, supposed to be the ancient Poseidonia of a colony of Sybarite adventurers (who, on landing here, found a town, drove its inhabitants to the mountains, and established themselves in their stead), appears, from its name, to have been dedicated to Neptune by the Greeks. The Sybarites, however, were supplanted by the Lucanians, and these by the Romans, under whose dominion Poseidonia assumed the name of Pæstum ; and, after having survived the Roman empire in the west, was destroyed by the Saracens about the commencement of the tenth century.* Previous to describing the ruins of this venerable city, it seems expedient to remark that some of these ruins appear to be of much higher antiquity than others, probably because the Sybarites, after having banished and succeeded the original inhabitants, supposed to have been Etrurians, repaired the walls, embellished the temples, and erected baths and other edifices congenial to the taste of an opulent and luxurious nation: and when Poseidonia fell under the yoke of the Romans, it is natural to imagine that they might have introduced Roman architecture.

The Walls of Pastum.-These walls, like those of Pompeii, are composed of very large smooth stones, put together with such nicety, that it is difficult to distinguish where they join. They are two and a half miles in circumference, and nearly of an elliptical form; their height seems to have been about fifty feet, their breadth or platform about twenty, and they were fortified by eight low towers, twenty-four feet square within, and at the windows twenty-three inches thick. These towers are less ancient than the walls, and some of the stones which compose them measure five feet in length.

The Gates.-Pæstum had four gates, placed at right angles, but that which fronts the east alone remains perfect: it consists of one simple arch, about fifty feet high, and built of stones incredibly massive. On the key-stone of this arch it was easy once to discern two basso-relievoes: the one representing the Sirena Pestana holding a rose, the other representing a dolphin, ancient symbols of a maritime people; time, however, has so far obliterated these symbols, that they are not now observable. Within the gate was a second wall, and between the two are remains of soldiers' barracks, and likewise of the ancient pavement of the city, which resembles that of Pompeii. On the outside of the northern gate are several vestiges of tombs, some of which appear to have been lined with painted stucco. Grecian armor, and vases of rare beauty, exhibiting Greek inscriptions, were found in many of them.

Temple of Neptune. This edifice, the most majestic, and apparently the most ancient here, or indeed in any other part of the European world, is composed of stone, evidently created by the torpedo touch of the Silaro: for, like the stone of Tivoli, it consists of wood, and various other substances petrified; and though durable as granite, abounds with so many small cavities, that it resembles cork. The shape of this temple, supposed to have been consecrated to Neptune, is quadrilateral: its length, out and out, is a hundred and ninety-seven feet, and its breadth eighty. It has two fronts, both being adorned with a pediment, supported by six enormous fluted columns. Each side is supported by twelve columns (those in the angles not being counted twice), and a Doric frieze and cornice encompass the whole building. The abovenamed exterior columns, generally composed of six, though in a few instances of seven blocks of stone, are in height only twenty-seven feet; their circumference at the bottom is twenty feet six inches; but considerably less at the top and the number of flutings to each column is twenty-four. They have no bases, but rest on the third step of the platform on which the edifice is erected. The capitals are quite simple, and more in the style of Hindoo architecture than any other. Two flights of steps lead to the two vestibules, each of which is supported by two pilasters

The temples of Pæstum were visited by Augustus as venerable antiquities, even in his days, but appear during modern times to have been totally forgotten, till discovered in 1755 by a young painter of Naples, who once more brought them into public notice.

with two columns between them, the breadth of each vestibule being eleven feet six inches. The cella, forty-four feet in breadth, is enclosed by four dwarf walls, and adorned with fourteen columns, disposed in the same manner as the exterior row, but less massive, the circumference at the bottom being only thirteen feet ten inches, and much less at the top, and the flutings to each only twenty in number. The situation of the high-altar, and those on which victims were sacrificed and offerings made, is discoverable, and it appears that these altars fronted the east. The interior columns support an immense architrave, on which rises another set of still smaller columns, destined perhaps to support the roof of the portico: five of these columns remain on one side, and three on the other. Gigantic steps, about five feet deep and three in number, lead up to the platform on which the temple stands, and encompass it on every side. There being only three steps seems extraordinary: because they are so inconveniently deep, that it is scarcely possible to ascend them. But as the number three was sacred and typical among the ancients, this might perhaps be the cause why the Pæstum temples are surrounded by three steps only. The largest stone of this stupendous edifice contains one way thirteen feet eight inches, and another two feet three inches, making altogether one hundred and four cubic feet.

Some authors suppose the Etrurians were originally Cananeans; and if this be admitted, it will appear probable that when they emigrated to the European continent their first landing-place might be Pæstum : and it seems equally probable that, on landing, they might erect the stupendous temple we have endeavored to describe.

An ancient inscription at Palermo is written in Chaldean characters: and therefore some persons suppose the primitive inhabitants of Palermo to have been emigrants from Chaldea and Damascus: and if this conjecture be well founded, the Etrurians were more probably of Chaldean than Cananean origin. Another circumstance merits notice: the inside walls of the most ancient sepulchral monuments at Pæstum exhibit paintings; and we learn from the prophet Isaiah that the Chaldeans were in the habit of painting the walls of their apartments.

The basilic, so called because no appearance is exhibited here either of altars or a cella, is an edifice which stands, like the temple of Neptune, on a quadrilateral platform. Its length, out and out, is a hundred and sixty-eight feet six inches, and its breadth eighty feet six inches. It has two fronts, each being adorned by nine fluted columns without bases, and resting on the third step of the platform, which step is five feet two inches deep. Each side is adorned by sixteen columns (the angular columns not being counted twice), resting likewise on the first step of the platform: the circumference of the largest columns at the bottom is fourteen feet six inches, and at the top much less. Both fronts have a vestibule, and the interior of the building is supposed to have been divided into equal parts by columns placed in a straight line from one entrance to the other; but only three of these columns now remain, and they do not range with the exterior ones. Where these three columns stand, the pavement seems to have been raised; and probably this spot was appropriated to the magistrates. The portico, which is supposed to have been appropriated to the common people, measures in breadth fifteen feet, and the cross-walk fifteen feet six inches. A Doric frieze and cornice adorn the outside of the edifice.