A CRATER OF VESUVIUS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 9, 1 July 1898, Page 6

A CRATER OF VESUVIUS.

A RARE DISPLAY.

A portion of the southern wall of the crater of Vesuvius fell in on the 9th of May. The falling debris (says the Daily News) blocked up the vents from which issued the gaseous vapours, and the previous strong explosions almost ceased. Then, on the night of the 15th, professor 11. V. Matteucci saw a sight which he believed no one had ever seen before. 'The mass of debris,' he says, ' oocuping the bottom of the crater was rendered, here more, there less, incandescent by the heat from the lava b -neath. Here and there numerous little flames, about 6ft. high, varying in colour from blue to green, escaped from amid the rocks. In the centre the bottom of the crater was more active. From an aperture in the completely red-hot debris a colossal column of flame forced its way with enormous violence, and a roar like that of breakers on a rocky shore. This gigantic tongue of flame rose to a height of some 200 ft., and was of a general yellow tint, with occasional flashes f>f red and violet colour, and sometimes intense blue. The beautifully-tinted jet of flame has to my knowledge never been observed before in a volcano. It was apparently owing to the kindling of the large quantity of combustile gases which had been imprisoned by the falling in of the crater. People have often thought they saw flames issuing from the summit of Vesuvius, but the light was always owing to the reflection from the lava below in the globes of smoke rising above the crater. The actual jet of incandescent gas observed by me on the night of the 15th April is, I believe, the only one observed on Vesuvius.'