DOWN VESUVIUS

Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 12

DOWN VESUVIUS

AH UHCOHVEHTiONAI RETREAT [From ‘The Times.’] From tlio south lip of the crater of Vesuvius an easy track winds down into the mouth. Stakes have been driven in : here and there as a hand-hold, and I always there are guides to fall on, if one ' must slip. There are but two difficulties in the descent —to keep lava grit and gravel out of one’s shoes and lo look where ouo is going. For somehow the tall, steep black and yellow cone, standing up like a steeple 200yds off in the middle ol tho grassy plain I below, seems to demand all one’s attonI tion as it grumbles and pulls and i shoots, now jerking quick jets of dun i steam in spasms of rage, now explodi ing with a mufiled roar into a lull volume of gorgeous and beautiful ini candescent vapor, tho color of old gold, 1 that froths out iu creamy rolls rich against the background of blue sky. , I On reaching tho bottom it is a relief ! to walk fairly comfortably on stuff that I resembles dark treacle dropped from a , circling spoon on to a Inigo plate, and j there solidified. First a zone of lava I two years old has to be traversed. Inside this is another zone of lava eight S months old; and in the middle of the , latter i.s the cono. The passage from i one zone to the other is marked only by a little ceremony; tho leading guide takes oil his coat and lays it solemnly upon a rock. The men of iho party i follow' suit and lace the big cono in j their shirt sleeves. In this second zone ! the lava is w'arm to the touch. Wicked- ; looking vents breathe out hot air, and, | offered a dry stick or some paper, lick lit up greedily in lire. Here is to be ■seen a small cone, a miniature of the 1 big one, and built up in the same way —hardened round a centra. orifice. Presently cakes of lava, lying detached on the vitreous surface, arc met with, .and produce a thrill; lor we arc now j within shot of the volcano, and these lumps were ejected but yesterday. There is life even in this burnt place. | Dozens of red ladybirds close their 1 pretty shell-like wings and settle upon I the party as if glad of company; nor is it easy to shake them off. Put no other living forms arc visible in tho scene of desolation. The incandescent vapor, foaming now overhead, has turped a glorious orange that fills tho ■ heart with joy. j Seen close the big cono looks tricked i and beautiful enough ; its black base contrasts with the strange greenish yol- | lows and browns of the sulphur and other vivid substances that encrust and streak its sides halfway up. There is (a smell of sulphur, too; and tho air is j redolent with a fragrance once familiar I to travellers on the old Metropolitan Railway. In ten years’ time, it is prophesied, tho cone will have so swollen i and expanded as to fill the whole ol

tho crater When this happens an eruption .is almost bound to follow. But the bolder members of tho party irruption is almost bound to follow, scrambling a few yards up tho cone. It is not easy work. What looks quite solid from a distance is found by trial to be a mere aggregation of cindery lumps. Tho black slag is loose, and gives way, so that one has to climb 21t for every one made good. These cinders aro quite cool to tha touch, but have a sticky feeling. After a few minutes of such toil the guide called halt; it w r as not safe to g>» higher in tho present condition of tho cone. In a few days ho foretells that its upper part will cave in. When that has happened an ascent to the top may safely be made, and one may peer down into the fiery bowels of tho earth. But to-day—no. And as the sides reverberate another roar, and those blocks spewed forth only yesterday lio a little heavy on the mind, there is a general acquiescence in the decision. The party wonds its way back to the crater walls. The adventure, however, is not yet over. On gaining the summit of the mountain it is found that tho funicular has carried off the unadventurous, has stopped working, and will not start again till late in the afternoon. It is now 1 o’clock; the nearest food is at the hotel below; and there is nothing for it but to scramble down tho mountain side. Hunger induces short cuts, and presently the whole party, ladies and all, is glissading down what is in truth nothing but an enormous ash heap. It is not a comfortable method of progression nor an easy one, for the surface begins by accompanying ana ends by outstripping tho glissader, so that the descent becomes more or loss involuntary, and a fall on lava, whether the stuff he'loose or fixed, is mighty unpleasant. And so a certain young lady discovered. Starting with tho dash, boldness and agility of her age and sox, she quickly found herself upon the top speed, and still accelerating. Flashing past the leader, she seemed to disappear in a whirlwind, to reappear in a sitting posture, quiet, hatless, am; dishevelled. Luckily a few cuts and scratches were the extent of the mischief. save for the mysterious disappearance of her hat, which was never more seen; whether because driven deep by her head into the mountain side, as she asserted, or because, after her somersault, it went sailing clown into Naples, i.s still a matter of discussion. When asked bow she felt, she replied that she felt like a hyena; and all agreed that she had found the right word.