VESUVIUS IN ERUPTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3250, 6 July 1872, Page 3

VESUVIUS IN ERUPTION.

Mr E. L. Knight, writing to the Times from Naples under date April 27th, says : —

Yesterday morning, about 7 o'clock, I went out to get a carriage to go up Mount Vesuvius, and on my way I was asked by a respectable-looking man in the street if I had. heard the newa of the night. He then told me that hundreds of people who had gone '.»p the night bffore to see the burning lava in the Atrio di C'avalJo were dead. I had seen the mountain at 11 o'clock the night before, when there wiu a stream of lava running from the top of the cone into the Atrio — that is, the valley between Vesuvius and the adjoining hill, the Somtna, where thero seemed to bo a lake of lire.

Later in the night there was a tremendous eruption, a large crater opening suddenly between the Observatory and the Atrio di Cavallo, across the path of the visitors, ifc is said, of a milo in diameter. We started from Naples at 8 o'clock. The view of the mountain was magnificent. An enormous cloud ; of dense white smoke was ascending to an immense height above the mountain, like great j fleeces of cotton wool, quite unlike any cloud I ever saw. I could see the lava rushing from several openings to the right of and above the Observatory, but below the cone. The lava was still flowing from the cone into the Atrio, but no ash or dust was thrown tip. We drove on to Resina, where the population were in fearful excitement, not knowing what to do, and apparently apprehensive of instant death—everybody making signs to us and telling us to go back. We went on to the Piazza di Pugliano, where we w re stopped, and told that no one was allowed to go up the mountain, by order of the police. However, after some expostulation, 1 took a guide on the box and started again. A few minutes afterwards we met a cart; bringing down a dead, body, and as we went on we saw other bodies, at least 12, o£ which one only appeared to be living. They were frightfully burnt on the face and hands, and some which were carried on chairs in a Bittine position were very ghastly objects. Further on we met people, officials apparently, coming down, ail warning us to go back. At length, when we had arrived at an elbow of the road not far below the Qljservatory, we met the officer who has charge of the Obaervaiory, who said we could not go on; that the danger was imminent; that the lava was running across and down the road before us ; that he had orders from the Prefect of Naples to prevent any one ascending, and that wo could not pass. My coachman was getting a little anxious, though I will do him the justice to it-iy he was not afraid, so I consented not to take the carriage beyond a turn in the road above us to the right, especially as I did not wish to meet the lava i<i a narrow road where we could not turn the carriage. We left the carriage there, and ascended on foot with the guide by a path straight up the mountain side. At length we stood on the edge of the flat ground sloping to the foot of the cone. Currents of lava were running down on both sides of us far below, but the erators from which they flowed were hidden by the simoke; clouds of smoke were ascending from, the top of the cone, and the lava still pouring down to the Atrio. The roar of the mountain, which wo had first heard at Portici, was now tremendous, Continuous, and unlike anything else I over heard, like millions of penis of thunder rolling at the same time; wheu suddenly, about noon, there was a cessation with a low rolling sound, and one heard the clicking and rippling of the lava currents pouring down the bill sides below. Then, in about a minute, came a deafening roar, shaking the ground under... our feet, and a new crater burst j forth just on the other side of. the Obser- i vatory as it seemed* to tis,'"and dense clouds of ashes and stones were thrown up into the air on the left hand of; and mingling with, the great white cloud, making a great contrast with the dark brown dust and ashes which rose perpendicularly to an immense height. The roaring continued and kept on increasing till it became deafening, and I began to think it mi^ht injure our cars.. We stayed there about an hour and a half; the scene was magnificent, the smoke occasionally clearing away and giving us the view towards the Atrio, that towards the cone being ali ways clear ; but as some of our party fancied I the ground might open under our feet, and j that wo might tindourselves in the midst of a ; new crater, I at length reluctantly sent the | guide to bring r.p the carriage. Had I been alono I should have stayed there till the evening. When we had gone down a short distance the same phenomenon again appeared. The sudden cessation of the tremendous roaring, the clicking and rippling of the falling lava, and the low muttering became then again audible ; then the fearful roar, and the shaking of the ground, and. another crater hurst forth on the Hank of the mountain below the Observatory, sending up clouds of dust and ashes, which rolled over and over till they reached an cnor»

moos height, bat quite separate from tho other clouds. All this time tho sun was shining in an Italian sky without a cbmi. After stopping some titno to admire the scene wo continued our descent, but before we reached the bottom of the hill wo saw tho lava from the lost crater tearing its way down through tho vineyards to our right with wonderful rapidity. Jast an hour after we left the top of tho hill, the cone commenced sending up torrents of atones, which fell in all directions, but whether tho red-hot hail reached our jxifsition on the right I know not When we retched Resina it wa* curious to bee the congratulations for what they thought our escape on the faces of tho people. The uncertainty and the panic were gone, and they were Hte&diiy packing up their beds and the few things they could carry, and starting with every sort of conveyance to put their gntirdian saint, St. (Jennaro, between them and the danger. When I started from Naples I expected to find all the world at the top of the mountain; but to n>y great surprise, there was not a single stranger there—only the few persona employed in bringing dinvn the dead. 1 twlieve the police j prevented any carriage passing after ours, i The awful roaring of tho mountain continued and increased till midnight, when it ceased, and only roared again for a short time about 4 o'clock, To-day the mountain is quieter, and the Neapolitans are a trifle less pale. The view of the mountain at midnight was grand in tho extreme.