A VISIT TO VESUVIUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13586, 7 May 1906, Page 2

A VISIT TO VESUVIUS.

BY ANDHKW Cahkeos',

The recent activity of Vesuvius is almost already forgotten in the molt awful calamity which has fallen upon San Francisco. Yet it re!!)' not be without interest •«o your readers if I put down a few notes of mv visit to it a little more than a year ago. It in ninth-more than that 6ince I iirst. saw its gloomy crown gloaming liigli above the surrounding darkness. I was then on my way to Edinburgh in 1880, and some time in the middle o£ the night Iwas .1 wakened with the cry "Vesuvius is in sight, and all aglow." Hoon I was on deck gazing with a strange fascination on its red crown. At once the thoughts sped back to the dark days "when it poured forth its wrath upon the afrighted inhabitants of the cities at its feel, when Ilerculanenni and Pompeii were buried out of night, and the voice of joy was' turned into Borrow and the rush of life into the stillness of death. To one who had spent most of'his days in New Zealand, where everything is new and history has, liardly begun, it was a new experience to stand face to face with this mountain, the story of whoso deeds readied hack iflfD the first century. Something similar was my experience afterwards when, in Edinburgh, I read "The Heart of Midlothian.'' J had road it before leaving the colony and had tasted something of its sweetness, yet there was a far-ofl'ness about it to me, a child of this young and far-off land, Hilt aa I read it in Auld Reekie, and listened to the cry of the I'orteous' Mob— "Portcoiis! Porteotm! To the Tolbootli! To (ho I'olbooth I"—it was instinct with new life, and sent me forth on a wet Saturday afternoon to look on the places of which I had just been reading. On\ my first visit to Naples 1 was not able to go out to Pompeii or to Vesuvius. A young man had died on hoard the steamer and been buried at sea the day before reaching Naples, and so we had tn wait patiently till the health officer could make it convenient to coino on board and clear us. He was in no hurry, and many ai|d strong were the expressions of affection for him to which not a few of the passengers gave utterance. At last he came, but the forenoon was well gone, and with it all hope of seeing Pompeii or of climbing the steep slopes of Yesuviits.' A year ago I was more fortunate. I came by steamer from Palermo, in "Sunny Sicily," and had two days/ to spend in Naples before going north t</ join my friends 'at Home. The run from Palermo takes about 12 hours, and was made in the Marco Polo, which was crowded with Sicilians, who were evidently on the wing for America. Tliey seemed a light-hearted company, who had no regrets nt leaving their island home, with its beautiful vineyards and olivcyards and orange groves. On reaching Naples I spoke of this to my friend, the Rev. Mr Irvine, who has been resident Presbyterian minister in Naples for many years, and who is aii old student of- the Otago University. He spoke pathetically of the hopeless poverty of the land and its people—a poverty which becomes more intense the further south.you go. 116 said as many as 10,000 people sailed from Naples in a week for America. It is astonishing. As I travelled through Italy I was charmed with the country. Its warm, rich soil seems capable of producing ambundant harvests in answer to thu husbandman's labour, and on everyside the fields were green and the vineyards clothed with beantV. ft seemed as if there could be nn reason for sons of Italy to cross the wide sea to find a. new home, not even in America. There must be- sometliing far wrong when such multitudes forsake this beautiful land. Here are some facts I gathered regarding the social condition of the people: In Southern Italy a labourer may get half a franc—less than s(l—for a 'day's work, and one franc is regarded as good pay. Then the Government levies a direct income tax of 20 per cent, which applies to the labourer and lord alike. Of course, the Government docs not try to take 2d out of the labourer's wage of a franc a day. It does not date to enforce the tax on'salaries and business incomes. To try to do so—to demand Is in the pound from every business and professional man on his annual earningsivould speedily end in revolution. Still any man, be he rich or poor, is liable to'this exorbitant- tax, and every man with fixed investments must pay it. Then indirect taxation seems even more crushing. Sugar is taxed so high that when I was in. Naples it was selling at Ed and BJd per lb; while salt, which is a Government monopoly, is sold at 2d per lb for the poorest .quality. Little wonder that men doomed to cany such burdens and to live without a living wage make haste to go to other lands in which hope holds an Open door! On this occasion I had no great desire to explore Naples itself. I had still a lively recollection of its dirt and countless smells; they were still more than a memory though more than 20- years had come and gone; and so I turned my attention to the buried city and the burning mountain. A-s soon as I had found quafters in a German hotel—l forget its name—l made for Pompeii by train. It is abont 13 miles from Naples, and lies directly, at the foot <<t" Vesuvius and between'it'aid (he sea. The railway station js within a few yards of the entrance to the ruins. In thus selecting Pompeii for my first afternoon I made a mistake. I should have gone first to the Museum (Museo Naziowile), where there is a model of the buried city, and where the various works of art which have been recovered are exhibited. This would have given me some insight into the inner. life of the people who once walked these streets and loved and laboured behind these walls. I had seen this model on my previous visit, hut that was not sufficient. Then I should have gone to Vesuvius to feel the throbbing of that mighty giant at wlinse uprising such destruction had fallen on the people. Something of the terror of that longgone night when Vesuvius surprised the sleepers of Pompeii may still be felt as one looks at the figures, which have been recovered and placed in a small museum near the entrance to the city. Here is one surprised in sleep and on his face the horror of death is clearly written; and hero is a mother, whose first thought is for her child, whom she tries in vain to,shelter from the shower of death which falls arourid them. The agony of it all is hero in minature. With a shudder wo pass out and look away to yonder mountain, which seems as innocent and peaceful as a sleeping child: and yet not quite so innocent as it looks, for yonder at intervals may be seen a pillar of cloud rising above it, bearing witness to the tierce forces that rage behind that smiling face.

And now let lis 011 through the city of till! dead. Once it. was a flourishing and fashionable provincial town, now it is silent as the grave. For long centuries ife lay buried, ami not, till 1860 was systematic exploration carred on. As we pass up its narrow streets (the broader 24ft wide, the narrower lift) let lis try to repeople it with the proud Italians who dwelt within its walls. Here we see the people gatliored for sacrifice and worship in one of its beautiful temples, and then move on . to the great theatre of Augustus, a structure still in a. splendid state of preservation What, a Rea of faccs! Its riling tiers of stone scats are crowded with old men and matrons, with young men an<l maidens. It is a gladiatorial combat- ttioy have come to see, and wo can almost liepv the shouts of the multitude as they applaud the skill With which the combatants have fought. In passing we note that it was here the explorers found 65 bodies of those who sought in vain to escape on that fatal day of 79 a.d. when the wliolo' city was buried in ashes. From this scene of riotous cruelty let us pass into the forum, at one eftd of which 6tand« the Temple of Jupiter. Hefe the life of the town centred itself, and at our leisure we may listen to the loungers as they discuss the fortunes of Cesar's last-favourite, ur may join ourselves to thiit little group and hear them talking of the wonderful victories which had come to the arms of Home, and of her mastery of the world. To them it seems certain that the kingdom which caanot b? shaken has found its centre in Imperial Rome. Other porters had risen and sunk into decay, but Rome can never know defeat, can never know decay. So they thought; sod 60 men

still think. If only the armies .ire large find the revenues ttoiirisliiiig, all seems well. And yet in every street of Pompeii there were the signs of coining ruin. Iter wickedness wafi stumped on her brow, and in'this she Wnfi only (ho child of her day, mid neither then nor now can any nation long abide in strength in which luxury an.! lust go hand in hand, lint we must hasten back, the signal for shutting the gates has gone, and. much though we would have liked to enter some of the shops that line the streets or to pass into-one of the houses of the Pomp'.'iian aristocracy, wc must deny ourselves the pleasure. To know Pompeii it is evident, wp must come again and again to wander quietlj* and thoughtfully among 11b ruins till the past becomes alivo and finds a tongue in which to tell us Ih.t secrets. 'I'lns pleasure, however, cannot he. ours. It. is ;i hmg, probably a last, farewell we say as wfi pasr> on! of the gates to find our way back by train to Naples. Tomorrow we .will climb the mountain. (To be continued.)