THE BURIED CITY OF POMPEII.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 70 (Supplement)

THE BURIED CITY OF POMPEII.

Pompeii was not destroyed by a fiery stream of molten lava, as is popularly supposed. First, there fell a shower of ashes and cinders, with here and there a huge mass of volcanic matter, and then there followed torrents of liquid mud, which flowed over all. and formed oyer the city a crust, preserving everything that remained from further injury or decay. Had the stream been burning lava, it must have melted down the bronzes, and reduced all to one vast heap of molten matter. As it is, the mast delicate frescoes remain uninjured, tho most minute articles are found in their integrity, and even such readily combustible materials as thread and skeins of silk have been gathered from the ruined dtvellings. We have seen a glass jar of oil still retaining its contents, delicate bottles of perfume, apparently as fresh as Avlien purchased at tho shop. How marvellous does all this seem when we remember that tne city was buried in a.d. 75), and that it has lain in its grave for eighteen hundred years. Vory few lininaii remains were found in the excavations, tor although the inhabitants had scant warning, it: appears that the bulk ot the population were at the time of the eruption assembled in the great amphitheat le, Avliich is •outside the town, and, finding themselves cut off from the vest of the city by the falling ashes, they made thoir escape from the pending doom. All of them, however, Avore not so fortunate, for same GOO skeletons Avere exhumed before half of (lie <‘ii A' had been uncovered. In Pompeii’s Inst hour, av hen the darkness Avhieh might liavo been felt, sett lee doAvn upon them, the bread Avas in the oa'cii, but; the baker never saw it taken from it; the meat Avas seedling m tne pot, never to be eaten; the slave Avas at the* mill ; the prisoner in the dungeon; tho money dealer in his treasury; but none of them saw aught of then - labouis, their pains, their pleasures again. A very large proportion of the dead were found in the barracks; thirty-four were

found together, beyond all doubt the guard called out for that fatal night. Discipline must have been poivorful indeed to have kept men at their at such a time, Avhen they Avers not tar from the city gates. The officer s Avife and children shared the same fate, and with them those ever-faithful friends or man, the dogs avlio had fed beneath the table. One of the first buildings seen by the traveller upon entering the exca\ r ations is the villa avlioso OAvner is supposed to have been named Dionied, a tomb on the opposite side of the road bears that name. In tho large cellars of this house seventeen persons Avere found huddled in a corner. A skeleton, believed to be the master of the house, was found near the garden gate, with tlie key of his valla in his hand. Outside the door on the other side of the road a skeleton ivas found, with two children by the side, perhaps mother and children. Tit the Street of Abundance, in the house of a money changer, in a vault-like room, lies a skeleton upon a heap of rubbish, Avith outstretched arms and fingers, as if he had been grasping at earth with his last life throb. Near him the diggers found some 400 coins, mostly of silver, and rings. Was lie a thief? And Avere these the spoils he had gathered ? Or was lie the money changer? And Avere these his capital? No one can answer these questions, but the blending together of death and gold is no new thing. The skeleton in the large room behind the Temple of Isis was found with bones of chicken, fish bones, egg shells, bread, Avine, and a garland of fioAA'ers around it. He must have been a rare feeder indeed.