GOING UP.
Rollo slept in the same room with Mr. George. He got up as soon as it
was light, dressed himself in a hurried manner, and went out. In about
ten minutes he returned.
"Well, Rollo," said Mr. George, "what is the report?"
"The smoke is not going either way," said Rollo. "It mounts
right straight up into the air; but Philippe says he thinks it is going
to be a fine day, and he has ordered breakfast. So I think you had
better get up."
At seven o'clock precisely the whole party were assembled in the dining
room for breakfast. They ate their breakfast together at the end of one
of the long tables. There were already two other parties in the room.
There was one consisting of two gentlemen that were going to Vesuvius.
There was another larger party that were about setting out for Rome.
Their carriage was at the door, and the vetturino and his men were at
work putting on the trunks and baggage.
At eight o'clock precisely, the carriage for Mr. George's party came to
the door. All were ready, and they all immediately got in. Philippe put
in a basket containing provisions. Mrs. Gray had a small book, formed
with leaves of blotting paper, to press the flowers in, which she meant
to gather around the Hermitage while the rest of the party were gone up
the mountain. Mr. George took his knapsack, though there seemed to be
nothing in it.
"What are you carrying up an empty knapsack for, uncle George?" asked
Rollo.
"To bring down specimens in," said Mr. George.
"Ah," said Rollo, "I wish I had thought to take mine."
"I'll let you have part of mine," said Mr. George. "It is big enough to
hold the specimens for all of us."
Philippe, when he found that the company were well seated in the
carriage, shut the door, mounted the box with the coachman, and gave the
order to drive on.
The carriage was entirely open, and the party, as they drove along,
enjoyed an uninterrupted view of every thing around them. They passed
through one or two beautiful public squares, with palaces and churches
on either hand, and lines of troops parading before them. Then they came
to a long and exceedingly busy street, with the port and the shipping on
one side, and stores, shops, hotels, and establishments of every kind,
on the other. The street was crowded with people going to and fro, some
on foot and some in carriages. A great many persons were carrying
burdens on their heads. Some had jars, or pails, or little tubs of
water; some had baskets heaped up with oranges, or other fruit. Some had
long boards with a row of loaves of dough upon them, which they were
taking to the bakers to be baked.
The sidewalks, especially on the side towards the harbor, were thronged
with people living in the open air, and practising their various trades
there. There were cooks, cooking all sorts of provisions; and
blacksmiths, working with hammers and anvils; and cabinet makers, sawing
or planing, or gluing together the parts of tables or chairs. Then there
were a great many family groups, some sitting in the sun around a boat
drawn up, or upon and around a great chain cable, or an anchor; and
others gathering about a fire made in a brazier, for the morning was
cool. These families were engaged in all the usual domestic avocations
of a household. The mothers were dressing the children, or getting the
breakfast, while the grandmothers and aunts were knitting, or spinning
thread with a distaff and spindle. The men were often employed in making
nets.
The carriage, which was drawn by three horses abreast, went on very
rapidly through these scenes--so rapidly, in fact, that Mrs. Gray had
not time to look at the various groups as much as she wished.
"I mean to come and take a walk here some day," said Mrs. Gray, "and
then I can look at all these things at my leisure."
"O mother," said Josie, "you can't do that very well, on account of the
beggars. If a gentleman and lady attempt to walk together in any of
these streets of Naples, the beggars come and gather around them at
every step."
"Then I'll come some day in a carriage, and tell the coachman to drive
slowly."
"That will be just as bad," said Josie. "They'll come then around the
carriage. The only way is to drive so fast that they cannot keep up."
The carriage went on. It followed the road which led along the shore, as
shown in the map given in a former chapter to illustrate the situation
of Naples; but the shore was occupied with such a succession of hamlets
and villages that the road seemed to form a continued street all the
way. After getting a little beyond the confines of Naples, the road was
thronged with people coming into town, some on foot, with loads of
produce on their heads, some driving donkeys, with immense burdens of
vegetables loaded in panniers on their backs, or drawn in carts behind
them. There were omnibuses too, of a peculiar kind, filled with people,
and a kind of carriage called a _calash_, which consisted of a sort of
chaise, with an extended frame for people to stand upon all around it.
The first class passengers in these calashes had seats in the chaise
itself. The others stood up all around, and clung on as best they could
to the back of the seat before them.
Our party met a great many of these calashes coming into town, and
bringing in loads of country people.
"It is astonishing," said Rollo, "that one horse can draw so many
people."
"It is because the road is so level and smooth," said Mr. George. "The
wheels run almost as easy upon it as they would upon a railroad."
[Illustration: CALASH COMING INTO NAPLES.]
After going on in this manner for about an hour,--all the time gently
ascending, and passing through what seemed to be a continued succession
of villages and towns,--the carriage stopped before the door of a kind
of inn in the midst of a crowded street. The moment that the carriage
stopped, it seemed to be surrounded by a crowd of ostlers, donkeys and
donkey drivers, ragged boys and beggars; and such a clamor arose from
the crowd as was quite appalling to hear, the more so as nothing could
be understood of what was said, since it was all in Italian.
"What is here?" said Mr. George to Philippe, when he saw that Philippe
was getting down from the box.
"This is Herculaneum," said Philippe, quietly.
"Herculaneum!" repeated Rosie, amazed. "Why, I thought Herculaneum was
all under ground."
"Yes," said Mr. George, "it is. He means that this is where we go down."
By this time Philippe had opened the carriage door. Mr. George got out,
and then helped Mrs. Gray to descend. A half a dozen beggars, some lame,
some blind, some old and paralytic, hovered about the steps, and held
out tattered hats to Mrs. Gray, moaning all the time in piteous tones,
and begging for alms. Mrs. Gray and Mr. George paid no attention to
them, but passed directly on, followed by the children, through a door
in a high wall, which led into a little court, and thence they passed
into a sort of entrance hall, leading into a building. Philippe, who
had preceded them, opened a closet, and took out some small candles. He
lighted these candles by means of a lamp hanging against the wall, and
gave one to each of the party. There was an open door near, with a broad
flight of stone steps leading down, like stairs going down cellar. As
soon as the candles were all lighted, the children heard somebody coming
up these stairs. It was a party of visitors that had been down, and were
now coming up. There were eight or ten of them, and the appearance of
them as they came up, following each other in a long line, each carrying
his candle in his hand, produced a very strange and picturesque effect.
The guide who came up at the head of them exchanged a few words with
Philippe in Italian, and then Philippe went on, leading his own party
down the stairs. The stairs were wide, so that there was abundant room
for the two parties to pass each other.
After going down some way, and making one or two turnings, suddenly a
light began to appear. It was a light like the light of day. It grew
brighter and brighter, until at length Mr. George and Rollo, who were at
the head of the party, after Philippe, came out under a large circular
opening cut in the rock, through which they could look up to the open
air, and to the sky.
"This is the well," said Philippe; "the well that they were digging when
they first came upon the ruins."
The sides of the well were of solid lava, smooth and hard, just as they
had been left by the workmen in digging down.
The light which came down through the well shone upon a sort of
platform, which, as well as the walls around it, was covered with moss
and other green plants, which had been induced to vegetate there by the
rain and the sunlight that had come down through the well. Mrs. Gray
gathered some of these plants, and put them into her book.
The party then went on down another flight of steps, which led into a
series of dark, vaulted chambers, all hewn out of the rock. By holding
the candles up to the sides of these chambers, the party could see here
and there the remains of old arches, columns, and walls, which had been
buried up in the lava, but were now partially disinterred.
These remains were part of an ancient theatre; and after passing through
several gloomy passages, the party came to a large chamber, where the
whole front of the stage had been brought to view. Before it, in a
range, were the seats for the musicians. On each side there was a
massive pedestal. The guide said that there were two bronze statues on
these pedestals when the place was first excavated, but that they had
been taken away, and were now deposited in the museum at Naples.
"We shall see them there, I suppose," said Mr. George, "when we go to
visit the museum."
"I shall take great interest in seeing them," said Mrs. Gray.
In some places the old pavement of the theatre had been laid bare, and
was plainly to be seen by holding the candles down close to the ground.
In other places the painting on the walls had been found, with the
colors quite fresh.
"These must be places that the hot lava did not come to," said Rollo.
"I suppose so," said Mr. George.
It was not possible to obtain any information from the guide, for he
could speak no language but the Italian, with the exception of a few
English words and phrases, which he pronounced in so outlandish a
manner, and mingled them up so much with his Neapolitan dialect, that it
was very difficult to recognize them.
"Questa vindow; vindow orizhinalle," he would say, meaning that the
opening that he was pointing to was one of the original windows of the
edifice. And then he would go on with a long sentence in the Neapolitan
dialect, which was perfectly unintelligible from beginning to end.
At length the exploration was ended, and the whole party ascended again
to the surface of the ground. The guide took the candles from their
hands as they came up, and Philippe paid him his fee. Mr. George led the
way to the carriage, which was still waiting at the door. It was
surrounded, as before, with poor children and beggars, who set up a loud
clamor for alms as soon as the party made their appearance.
Mr. George took no notice of them, but opened the door for Mrs. Gray and
Rosie to get in. They got in, and Mrs. Gray took her place on the
forward seat of the carriage,--that is, with her back to the
horses,--and Rosie sat down by the side of her.
"The other is your seat, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George.
"No," said Mrs. Gray; "we are going to ride here now, and let you and
the boys have the back seat."
"O, no, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George; "please take the back seat."
"By and by I will," said Mrs. Gray, "but not now."
So Mr. George and the two boys got in and took the back seat, which was
a great deal better than the forward seat, as it afforded so much better
opportunity to see.
All this was done in a moment, and Philippe, after shutting the door and
mounting the box with the coachman, gave the order to drive on.
"I think you and Rosie ought to have this seat, Mrs. Gray," said Rollo.
"I have had that seat already for an hour," said Mrs. Gray. "There is no
reason why I should have it all the time."
"Why, yes," said Rollo; "because you are a lady."
"My being a lady is a very good reason why the gentlemen should always
offer me the best seat," said Mrs. Gray; "but it is no reason why I
should always take it. Indeed, it is a very good reason why I should
not; for it is not at all ladylike to be monopolizing and selfish in
respect to good seats and good places when there is any thing to see."
Mr. George did not care a great deal about the difference in the seats,
but he was so much pleased with the disinterested and considerate spirit
which Mrs. Gray manifested in this case, that he secretly resolved that
he would invite her and Rosie to accompany him on every excursion that
he made.
The road now left the shore, and soon began to ascend the mountain,
winding this way and that in long zigzags, through rich vineyards and
groves of mulberry trees, all planted on soil which had been formed
during the lapse of ages from the disintegration and decay of the lava
which had come down from the volcano above. This land was very fertile;
and as both the soil itself and the rocks from which it was formed were
of a rich brown color, the country looked even more fertile than it
really was. The road was excellent. Indeed, as Philippe had said, it was
as hard and smooth as a floor. It was macadamized all the way, being
made of lava, broken small, and so compacted together, and worn so hard
and smooth by the wheels that had gone over it, and by the feet of the
horses and mules, that it seemed one continuous surface of stone.
The views on every side were of course continually enlarging and
expanding the higher the carriage ascended, and as, in the long windings
and zigzags of the road, the heads of the horses were turning
continually into different directions, each person in the carriage,
without changing his seat, or even turning his head, had all the
different views presented successively before him.
The whole expanse of the Bay of Naples was coming continually more and
more fully into view, with the mountainous islands in the offing, which
border it towards the sea, and a long line of hamlets, villages, and
towns, extending, like a white fringe upon a green mantle, along the
curve of the shore. Naples was seen in the distance, with the great
Castle of St. Elmo on a rocky summit above it.
Towards the mountain the travellers could see lofty peaks, with immense
valleys between them. These valleys were extremely fertile and
beautiful, except where recent streams of lava had flowed through them;
that is, lava which had issued from the mountain within a few hundred
years. From the road where the carriage was now moving, the party could
look down upon the beds of these streams, and as the lava had already
become partially decomposed, they looked like immense fields of rich
brown soil turned up by the plough. These valleys, by which the mountain
sides were furrowed, were so large, and the streams of lava in the beds
of them were comparatively so small, that Mr. George said he did not
wonder that the people in the towns along the sea shore were not more
afraid of living so near the mountain.
"There is room enough in these valleys," said he, "to hold the lava of a
thousand eruptions, before they would be filled up."
At length the carriage arrived at the Hermitage. The building stood, as
Rollo had seen with his opera glass from the balcony of the hotel, at
the outer extremity of a spur of the mountain, a mile or two from the
foot of the great cone. The road to the foot of the great cone lay along
the crest of the ridge. The observatory, which was a larger and
handsomer building, stood just above and beyond it, and was surrounded
with very pretty gardens.
The grounds around the Hermitage were very fertile, and though they were
steep and broken, they were so laid out in vineyards and groves of
mulberry trees, and the sun shone upon them so pleasantly, that they
presented a very attractive appearance. The Hermitage was a plain, but
neat stone building, massive and white, with a broad area before it,
where a great many carriages, and also a great many donkeys and mules,
all saddled and bridled, were standing. The carriage drove up rapidly,
and stopped before the door.
Here followed another noise and uproar, from beggars, musicians, mule
and donkey men, guides, and boys, who gathered about the carriage in a
crowd as soon as it stopped, all clamoring for money or employment. Mr.
George paid no attention to them, but assisting Mrs. Gray and Rosie to
descend, he led the way into the house. There was a boy at the door to
receive him. The boy led the way up a narrow flight of stone stairs to a
sort of hall, surrounded on every side by massive walls of stone. There
were two or three desolate-looking rooms opening from this hall. The
room doors were open. The floors were all of stone. There were tables
set in these rooms, and different parties were seated at them, partaking
of refreshments that they had brought up with them in their
carriages--the bags and baskets in which they had brought them up lying
at their feet.
These parties were waited upon by the monk, who walked about among the
guests, bringing them glasses, knives and forks, bottles of wine, and
any thing else that they required. He was dressed in the costume of his
order, and looked, as Rosie said, precisely like the pictures of monks
which she had seen in books in America.
Philippe came up almost immediately after his party, bringing with him
his basket of refreshments. He soon found a table that was unoccupied,
and having placed chairs around it, he asked the monk to bring some
glasses and some knives and forks.
"And now," said he, addressing Mr. George, "if you will take some
refreshment here, I will go and make the preparations for continuing
the ascent. I will come up again as soon as we are ready."
So Philippe went away. Mrs. Gray and Rosie sat down at the table, but
the boys began to ramble about in the hall and in the rooms, to see what
was to be seen, taking care, however, to go now and then to the table to
get fresh pieces of bread and butter, and oranges, so as to keep
themselves well supplied with provisions all the time.
In about fifteen minutes Philippe came up, and said that the
arrangements were made, and then the whole party went down stairs. There
were two portantinas at the door, all ready. The men--an extremely
rough-looking set--stood beside them.
"Now, Rosie," said Mrs. Gray, "you may get into yours first, so that I
may see how you do it."
Philippe spread a shawl over the chair which Rosie was to go in, and
Rosie took her seat. Four of the men then took hold of the ends of the
poles, and first with a lift, and then a gentle toss, they raised it up
to their shoulders. Rosie was a little frightened when she found herself
going up so high into the air; but when the ends of the poles came down
gently upon the men's shoulders and rested there, she felt reassured,
and she looked down upon her mother with a smile.
"How do you feel?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"Beautifully," said Rosie.
Mrs. Gray then took her seat in her chair, and the bearers lifted her up
upon their shoulders in the same way. Both sets of bearers set off
immediately.
Rollo and Josie then mounted two donkeys, which Philippe had provided
for them, while Mr. George set out on foot. In this order the party
moved in quite a long procession from the area before the Hermitage, and
began to follow the winding path which led along the crest of the ridge
towards the foot of the cone. There were in all nearly thirty persons,
thus:--
Travellers, 5
Portantina bearers, 8 to each chair, 16
Donkey drivers, 2
Strapmen, 2
Refreshment man, 1
Guide, 1
__
27
The refreshment man carried the provisions, which he hoped to sell to
the party by the way, in a basket poised upon his head.
The procession moved on in this order, along a rough and narrow mule
path, for nearly an hour. In some parts of the way the road was pretty
nearly level; in others it was extremely broken and steep, where it
passed across old streams of lava. Before them the travellers could see,
all the way, the immense cone, which formed the summit of the mountain,
rising into the sky. They saw that they were gradually drawing nearer
and nearer to the foot of it, and on looking up they could see another
party, which had preceded them in making the ascent, slowly toiling
their way up the rocky steep, while, at a little distance on one side,
another party were seen descending by a different path, which was seen
winding down circuitously at a part of the mountain where the slope was
formed of sand.
At length Rollo saw at a distance before him a level place among the
trees, very near the foot of the great cone. This he knew at once must
be the halting place.
"Uncle George," said he, "we are coming to the end of our ride."
"Are we?" asked Mr. George.
"Yes," said Rollo. "Do you see all those mules and donkeys there,
standing together among the rocks and trees? That must be the halting
place at the foot of the cone."
Rollo was right. As soon as he and Josie arrived at this place, the
donkey boys stopped the donkeys, and held them by the head for the
riders to dismount. The bearers of the portantinas stopped too, to
change hands.
Mrs. Gray got out of her chair as soon as the men put it down, and went
to Rosie's chair to ask Rosie how she had got along.
"Very well indeed," said Rosie. "I like it very much."
"Does your courage hold out to go up the cone?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"O, yes, mother," said Rosie; "and I wish you would go up too."
"No," replied Mrs. Gray; "I will go back to the Hermitage, and wait
there until you come down. But you may go up if you wish, and if Mr.
George is willing to take you."
Mr. George said that he should like to have Rosie go very much, and he
promised to take special care of her. So the new bearers lifted her up
upon their shoulders again, and the strapmen that Philippe had provided
came with their straps to Rollo and Josie. Mr. George took a cane which
one of the boys provided him with, and thus the party began the ascent
of the cone.
[Illustration: THE ASCENT.]
Rollo found, after a while, that he did not need the strapmen; so he let
Josie have them both. Josie put his staff through the loops of the
straps, and took hold of the ends of it, while the men walked before
him, and pulled him up the rocks.
Rollo kept ahead. He climbed faster than the rest of the train, but he
stopped now and then on some projecting mass of lava to wait for them to
come up. Next to Rollo came Josie, with the two strapmen pulling him up
by their straps. Then the refreshment man, with his basket of provisions
on his head. Last of all came the bearers of the portantina, with Rosie
in the chair. Mr. George followed immediately after. He kept close to
Rosie all the way, for he thought she would be afraid to be left alone
with such wild and rough-looking men.
Indeed, she doubtless would have been afraid, for the men were rough and
wild in their demeanor, as well as in their looks. They made a great
deal of noise, shouting and scolding all the way. Every now and then
they would stop to rest, and then they would clamor for _buono manos_,
sometimes begging for the money in very earnest and noisy, but suppliant
tones, and sometimes demanding it in a very loud and threatening manner.
Mr. George, however, paid no heed to these requests, but steadily
refused to give the men any money, saying simply that Philippe would
pay. At length the men, finding that Mr. George was cool and collected,
and that he did not seem to be at all intimidated by their violent and
boisterous demeanor, became quiet, and performed their duty in a more
steady and orderly manner.
The party went on climbing in this way for nearly an hour, and finally
reached the summit.