NOTES ON THE ERUPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 86, 10 April 1906, Page 5

NOTES ON THE ERUPTION.

If this outburst is really greater than that of 1794, it must be very great indeed. On that occasion the lava flowed over 5000 acres of rich vineyards and cultivated land, and Torre del Greco was a second time burned; the top of the mountain fell in, and the crater increased to two miles in circumference. Naples is eight miles to the west, and usually the safe side of the summit of Vesuvius. Torre dell' Annunziata is about 4} miles to the south of the crest of the volcano. The latter is a thriving port of something more than 20,000 population, with a large shipping trade. Naples Observatory, which wa3 built in 1841, has acquired a European reputation from the meteorologist Melloni, and still more from his successor Professor Palmieri, who directed it with qeual sagacity, skill, and daring from 1854 till his death in 1882. The funicular "railway" was really rather a cable tram from the base to near the summit, and was m very familiar object to tourists^ The outflow of lava marks the cross of an eruption, and after a final ejection of atones and dust the volcano relapses into a state of quiescence. The electric railway that has been destroyed replaced the older form of funicular railway. It runs from Pugliano, which is connected with Naples by eleetrie trams, and runs through t_egc_«rming "cultrratsd zone" te the foot of Monte Citeroai. ttfl. ©a *q '__• sow of the yolc«_>.