Vesuvius, and as I was quite weary I enjoyed the cigar with a great
deal of relish. We cooked some eggs which we purchased of an Italian
speculator. He had brought them up at a venture, and provided himself
with salt and bread, and a few bottles of wine, so that we were able
to make a comfortable meal. Our appetites had been sharpened by the
labor of climbing, and we made a hearty repast, the more so as a view
was displayed before us which I will not easily forget. Gold and blue,
that brilliant gold of the sun, a whole world of cheerful beams, and
a splendid azure-blue is lying upon the sea under us. That is a sky
so magnificent, so many-colored, as no other country has ever seen.
Yonder lies Capri, there Procida, and at a little distance Ischia, all
floating upon the water, like so many boats, adorned with many-colored
flags, all splendor, all charm. This wreath of villages and cities,
washed by the bay of Naples, glistens like marble, and yonder, where
the sea pierces so deep in the land, is Naples. That charming city
is surrounded by landscapes of the brightest hues, blue, green, life
and joy! The Neapolitans, proud of this gem, call her “a piece of
paradise lost upon the earth.” A view of the bay of Naples from the
top of Vesuvius is probably the most charming one upon earth. The
great difficulty of the ascension, and the still greater annoyance of
the beggars; and the enormous number of curious visitors, has led a
company to project a railroad, which does away with all such troubles.
The distance from the suburbs of Naples to the top of Vesuvius is
twenty-six miles, twenty-three of which are to be laid with ordinary
railroad tracks, and the distance from Atrio del Cavallo to the top,
which is the steepest stretch, being three miles, is a wire-rope road,
which prevents the cars from sliding back over the steep plane. The
plan is made to have the whole road covered with a vaulted roof of
lava, to a distance of about one hundred feet from the crater, which
will at the same time divide the streaming lava into two tributaries,
running on either side of the road, which is built of lava also,
and is elevated. The model of the road is the same as that of the
_Rigi_. One of the stations of the road is the observatory of Prof.
Palmieri, who here feels the pulse of the mountain. He showed us, with
the greatest courtesy, the different scientific instruments of which
he makes use for his investigations. It would take too much space
to describe them here; let it suffice to say that they enable the
professor to make his calculations to a nicety, and that we really may
say that he “feels the pulse” of the mountain; he not only knows what
is going on at the moment in this great reservoir of lava, but he is
able to predict an approaching eruption.
[Illustration: RAILROAD FROM NAPLES TO THE SUMMIT OF MT. VESUVIUS.]
[Sidenote: THE PROJECTED RAILROAD.]
Going down the mountain was much easier than going up. We did not go
down at the same place where we made the ascent, but went a little
to one side, where we could walk down through the ashes. The first
step or so is a little trying to the nerves, but after two or three
steps you acquire confidence and then let yourself out. All you need
to do is to stand erect, throw your head back, and start off, putting
one foot before the other in a dignified sort of way. The ashes are
generally dry and dusty, but at the time of my descent they had just
been moistened by a slight fall of rain, so that no dust arose from
them. Our feet settled in the ashes up to the ankles, and at every
step we went forward six or eight yards. It took us an hour and a
quarter to climb the mountain, and we came down in seven minutes,
including a halt on the way to make love to an English girl, who had
slipped, and was unable to pick herself up. We assisted her to her
feet, and lost a minute or two in our work of gallantry.
[Sidenote: RACING IN THE LAVA BEDS.]
A countryman of ours who attempted to come down just behind us was
not quite as successful as ourselves. He managed to pitch forward and
turn a very pretty somersault; but the exercise did not improve his
personal appearance or his temper. When he brought himself to rights,
and reached the place where the horses were standing, he was very much
dilapidated, and as cross as a bear with a chewed ear.
It is hard work to ascend Vesuvius, but it is jolly fun to come down.
[Illustration: DESCENT OF VESUVIUS.]
We mounted our animals and came away. On the steepest part of the
descending road, we tried to get up a race, thinking that the laws of
gravitation would help us. Part of the beasts were induced to run, but
there were two or three out of which no speed could be made faster
than a walk. Even a descent as steep as the roof of an ordinary house
had no temptations for them, and I wanted to try the experiment of
flinging them over a precipice, to see whether they could be started
into anything like a respectable pace. I have my doubts about it; and
had they been flung from a perpendicular cliff, I think they would
have come down through the air as majestically and as calmly as a
parachute descends from a balloon.
When we reached Resina, we rode to Herculaneum. The modern discovery
of this city resulted from digging a well in the year 1709. The site
of the city had been lost, owing to the great depth—nearly one hundred
feet—of the solid material which covered it. Properly speaking,
Herculaneum was destroyed by liquid mud, rather than by burning lava.
Since the destruction of the city, there have been six different
overflows of lava, so that for all practical purposes the site is
covered with this solid material.
When the well referred to was being made, the workmen came upon
another well; an ancient affair, nearly eighty feet from the surface.
Several works of art were brought to light, but for some reason
the government of Naples prohibited the explorations. Thirty years
later, they have been renewed, and have since been prosecuted at
different intervals. At the present time the excavations are continued
with much zeal, and startling discoveries are being made.
[Illustration: SEARCHING FOR RELICS AT HERCULANEUM.]
As was the case with Pompeii, so over ancient Herculaneum a new
city has been built. Underground passages have been explored like
those of a mine, without uncovering them to the light of day. One
great difficulty of the excavations exists in the fact that whilst
Pompeii, at the time of the great eruption, was covered with ashes,
Herculaneum was covered with liquid lava, which, if not exposed to the
air, requires sometimes two or three years to cool off, but then it
is almost as hard as flag-stone. It is easily to be seen that under
such difficulties the excavations but slowly progressed; the more so,
as the digging has to be done very carefully, so as not to mar the
relics, for which the excavation properly is done.
It is not often that articles are found at a height above four feet
from the floor, as their weight naturally carried them downwards
through the soft mass of ashes. The digging is therefore rapidly
prosecuted until the uniform above level has been attained. After
this, the workmen carefully examine every piece of lava which they
extract by small portions. As soon as the experienced eye of any
worker recognizes the indications of a mold being formed in the lava,
labor near that point is stopped, and tamping irons are cautiously
inserted to make two or three vents in the cavity. Then liquid plaster
is poured in; and after being left sufficiently long to harden, the
lava is taken away, and the cast is removed.
[Sidenote: A YOUNG MAN AND A YOUNG LADY.]
In this way some curious facts have been brought to light. Two
skeletons were found in close embrace, the teeth perfect, indicating
youth in its prime; skeletons of a young man and maid. They had
fallen together in their flight, and death had wedded them. There
was a mother with her three children, hand-in-hand, who tried vainly
to outrun death. Perhaps the mother, singly, might have done it, but
she could not leave her children. Plenty of food for sad thought is
furnished in remembering that at Herculaneum and Pompeii, six hundred
skeletons have already been exhumed!—many in such positions and
circumstances as to suggest very touching episodes accompanying the
final catastrophe.
The skeleton of a dove was found in a niche overlooking the garden
of a house. She had kept to her post, notwithstanding the shower of
hot, death-dealing lava. She sat on her nest through all the storm,
shielding the egg which was taken from beneath her.
[Sidenote: THE STREETS OF HERCULANEUM.]
The streets of Herculaneum are all paved with lava, just as the
streets of Naples are paved to-day. One street is more than thirty
feet wide, and furnished with raised sidewalks. The houses were
mostly of brick, and in general appearance and structure like
those of Pompeii, which we described before. Magnificent pieces
of art were taken out of them, but it is to be deplored that the
paintings, as a rule, fade as soon as they are exposed to the
light of day. Many statues and busts and pieces of furniture claim
our highest admiration; they are admirably executed, and evince a
highly-cultivated taste. Various musical and surgical instruments, and
boxes, and many utensils belonging to the kitchen and toilet, call our
attention, especially those of the kitchen, the utensils being very
variegated, and mostly manufactured of copper lined with silver. Many
imitations of precious stones have been found; they naturally excite
the curiosity of the chemist, who is eager to know how the old Romans
produced them. Most of these articles are now exhibited in the Museum
of Naples, where the paintings are kept under glass, which precaution
prevents the fading of the brilliant colors as much as possible.
Herculaneum possessed a theater, which claims our greatest attention,
as it is the most important building discovered. It was able to
contain eight thousand persons. Its walls are highly decorated, and
its floors and pillars were constructed of different colored marble.
[Sidenote: SIGNOR FIORELLI.]
Signor Fiorelli, the Italian engineer who supervises the excavations
at Herculaneum and Pompeii, claims that Pompeii did not contain more
than 12,000 inhabitants at the time of the eruption, although it
has generally been supposed that the population was from 20,000 to
50,000.
[Illustration: THE GATE OF HERCULANEUM AND STREET OF TOMBS.]
Eight gates have been discovered, and the roads outside of them are
lined on each side with tombs of considerable size and architectural
pretension. The street of tombs, before the gate of Herculaneum, was
probably the principal burial place of the city; and the sepulchral
monuments adorning it, give evidence of the refined taste and great
wealth of the prominent inhabitants. The streets, which, for the most
part, run in regular lines, are, with some exceptions, barely wide
enough to admit a single vehicle. Five of the main streets have been
partially or wholly traced, and with these a regular system of minor
streets appear to have been connected. The thoroughfares, with a
single exception, terminate in or traverse the western quarter of the
city, which is the only part yet completely explored.
The Italian government at present liberally assisting the excavations,
the space now laid bare measures about 670,000 square feet, or
one-third the whole area occupied by the city. Signor Fiorelli
calculates that, making the excavations on an average twenty-five feet
deep, and employing eighty-one laborers daily, the whole city will be
unearthed in 1947.
Our descent into Herculaneum was by a staircase opening from a small
house, where we found a number of guides in uniform. We paid our two
francs each, and were remitted to the care of a guide, who pretended
to speak English, but, to our great amusement, we soon found out that
the whole extent of his English vocabulary amounted to: “Look here!”
which precluded every explanation given in Italian. His knowledge of
English only tended to make his Italian sound very funny indeed.
After we had seen all that was noteworthy, we mounted the steps into
the open air, and returned to Naples. When passing Mt. Vesuvius, our
guide told us, that indications of an eruption had been observed, and
really in the following year the eruptions came. It did much damage
and attracted many visitors to Naples, but it did not equal in extent
or magnificence the great eruption of 1872. This outbreak began on the
23d of April, and was at once the grandest and most terrible of all
the eruptions that have occurred during this generation.
[Sidenote: THE ERUPTION OF 1872.]
For some days previous to the outbreak the mountain gave indications
of approaching activity, and when the eruption began, hundreds of
people observed it from the old lava beds between the observatory and
the town of Resina, and some of them remained there during the whole
of the night of April 25. Early the next morning two great seams
opened under these spectators’ feet; hot sulphurous vapors enveloped
them, and as they sought safety in flight, great rivers of lava
rushed out of the newly-opened craters, and threatened the frightened
sight-seers with speedy destruction. Some found the earth under them
too hot to be walked upon, and, falling down, perished where they
were. Others were suffocated by the gaseous emanations from the earth,
and still others were so injured that they died after reaching a place
of safety.
In the towns and villages around the volcano the destruction of
property was very great, but the people generally escaped by timely
flight.
In all the towns the terror was wide-spread. Nine distinct craters
were opened, and lava streams, some of them sixteen feet deep, ran
down the sides of the mountains, destroying everything in their
paths. Several of the villages were almost entirely buried in ashes,
as ancient Pompeii was in the eruption previously described. Even in
Naples, people were almost smothered with the shower of dust, cinders,
and sand that poured down for days. Every window was kept closed, and
every traveller through the streets was compelled to protect himself
by carrying an umbrella; and there were serious fears, on the part
of the timid, that the beautiful Italian city of to-day was to play
the tragic part of Pompeii in a repetition of the terrible scenes of
eighteen hundred years ago.
[Illustration: THE CRATER OF VESUVIUS.]
Many people lost their lives, some in consequence of remaining to
protect their property, and others from venturing too near out of
motives of curiosity. At one time a group of fifty or more people were
surrounded by the lava, and burned to death in sight of those who
were powerless to aid them. They were standing on a little hill, and
did not see, until too late, that the lava had flowed around it, and
placed them on an island, as it were, with a red-hot river all around
them. Many others were burned by the lava and the hot blasts which
came from it in various parts of its course. A gentleman who witnessed
the eruption thus describes the scene in a letter written from Naples
on the 27th of April, 1872:—
[Sidenote: STORY OF AN EYE-WITNESS.]
“Yesterday morning 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 news of the night. He then told me
that hundreds of people, who had gone up the night before to see
the burning lava in the Atrio di Cavallo, were dead. I had seen the
mountain at eleven o’clock the night before, when there was 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 Somma, where
there seemed to be a lake of fire. 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,
it is said, of a mile in diameter. We started from Naples at eight
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 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 up. 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 were stopped and told
that no one was allowed to go up the mountain, by order of the police.
However, after some expostulation, I took a guide on the box and
started again.
[Sidenote: AN ISLAND OF FIRE.]
“A few minutes afterwards we met a cart bringing down a dead body, and
as we went on we saw other bodies—at least twelve—of which one only
appeared to be living. They were frightfully burned on the face and
hands, and some, which were carried on chairs, in a sitting position,
were very ghastly objects. Further on we met people—officials,
apparently—coming down, all warning us to go back. At last, when we
had arrived at an elbow of the road not far below the Observatory, we
met the officer who has charge of the Observatory, 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 we could not
pass. My coachman was getting a little anxious, though I will do him
the justice to say 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 in 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 reaching to the
foot of the cone. Currents of lava were running down on both sides
of us far below; the craters from which they flowed were hidden by
the smoke; clouds of smoke were ascending from the top of the cone,
and the lava still pouring down the Atrio. The roar of the mountain,
which we had first heard at Portici was now tremendous, continuous,
and unlike anything else I ever heard,—millions of peals of thunder
rolling at the same time,—when suddenly, about noon, there was a
cessation, with a low, rolling sound; and one heard the ticking and
rippling of the lava currents pouring down the hill-sides below. Then,
in about a minute, came a deafening roar, shaking the ground under
our feet; and a new crater burst forth just on the other side of the
Observatory, as it seemed to us, 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 might injure our ears. We staid there about an
hour and a half.
[Sidenote: A MAGNIFICENT SCENE.]
“The scene was magnificent, the smoke occasionally clearing away and
giving us the view towards the Atrio, that towards the cone being
always clear; but as some of our party fancied that the ground might
open under our feet, and that we might find ourselves in the midst of
a new crater, I at length reluctantly sent the guide to bring up the
carriage. Had I been alone I should have staid there till the evening.
When we had gone down a short distance the same phenomena 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 burst forth on the flank of the mountain, below the
Observatory, sending up clouds of dust and ashes, which rolled over
and over till they reached an enormous height, but quite separate from
the other clouds. All this time the sun was shining in an Italian sky
without a cloud.
“After stopping some time to admire the scene, we continued our
descent; but before we reached the bottom of the hill we saw the lava
from the last crater tearing its way down through the vineyards to our
right with wonderful rapidity. Just an hour after we left the top of
the hill the cone commenced sending up torrents of stones, which fell
in all directions; but whether the red-hot hail reached our position
on the height I know not. When we reached Resina it was curious to
see the congratulations for what they thought our escape on the faces
of the people. The uncertainty and the panic were gone, and they were
steadily packing up their beds and the few things they could carry,
and starting with every sort of conveyance to put their guardian
saint, St. Gennaro, 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 my great surprise, there was not a single stranger there—only
the few persons employed in bringing down the dead. I believe the
police prevented any carriage passing after ours. The awful roaring of
the mountain continued and increased till midnight, when it ceased,
and only roared again for a short time about four 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 the extreme.”
[Sidenote: THE ERUPTION SUBSIDING.]
Several villages were destroyed in this eruption, and many acres of
vines were covered with lava and ashes. But as soon as the eruption
was over, many of those who had fled returned to whatever of their old
homes they could find. There is something strange in the fascination
of the people for the places which they are well aware are liable at
any time to the lava torrent or the storm of ashes. Eruptions have
occurred, and will occur again; but all the reasoning you can offer
would not induce these Italian peasants to go and live elsewhere.
At the present time Professor Palmieri reports from his observatory,
near the top of the crater, that symptoms have been observed by him
which indicate a new eruption, and strange to say, the Italians, who
are accustomed to live constantly in danger, quietly look out for the
occurrence, living at the very foot of the death-dealing mountain. The
soil is extremely fertile, and eagerness for wealth seems here even to
expel fear for death.
XIII.
THE CAVERNS OF NAPLES.
EXCAVATIONS NEAR NAPLES.—POZZUOLI.—VISIT TO THE CAVE OF
THE CUMEAN SIBYL.—ACCIDENT TO AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER.—HUMAN
PACK-HORSES.—DARKNESS AND TORCHES.—THE LAKE OF AVERNUS.—DROWNED
IN BOILING WATER.—A DANGEROUS WALK.—IN NERO’S PRISON.—INSTRUMENTS
OF TORTURE.—USE OF THE RACK.—THE IRON BEDSTEAD.—BROILING A MAN
ALIVE.—TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.—AN ANCIENT FUNERAL. —VIRGIL’S
TOMB.—CONSTRUCTING WINE CELLARS.—NOVEL PLAN OF ROBBERY.
The traveller who visits Naples has abundant opportunities for making
underground explorations in the neighborhood of that city. A few of
the places he can examine are of natural origin—the Blue Grotto,
for example; but by far the greater part of them are artificial. A
most interesting journey can be made to Pozzuoli and its immediate
neighborhood. With a longing desire to see some of the underground
curiosities that have made that part of Italy famous, I arranged a
tour in that direction before I had fairly settled myself at the
hotel. We made a party of three, all Americans, and all as impatient
and uneasy as our race is said to be when travelling on the continent.
A skirmish with a horde of rapacious coachmen secured us a carriage,
and we drove out of Naples by the road which skirts the bay in the
direction of Rome.
Arriving in the vicinity of the famous places, we were beset by
guides, who almost climbed into the carriage in their eagerness to
secure an engagement. We picked out the cleanest of the lot, or
rather the least dirty, and mounted him upon the box by the side of
the driver, where he sat in all the dignity of an emperor. He spoke a
confused jumble of English, French, and Italian, which was no language
in particular, but might be anything in general. His first movement
was to stop at a wayside house, from which a woman emerged bringing us
half a dozen candles or torches of twisted rags and tallow, each of
them as large as one’s wrist, and about three feet long. We objected
to so many, but the guide assured us they would all be needed. I was
inclined to doubt his statement, from my knowledge of the rascality of
guides in general; but he met me with the promise, “Me them will pay
for if not they be wanted, Si, signor. You verrez will.”
Of course we could not refuse after this guarantee. I paid for the
torches with a silent resolution to make the fellow eat what were left
over; and, as the tallow was bad, and the rags were worse, there was
good reason to believe they would not make an agreeable dinner.
[Sidenote: GOING TO POZZUOLI.]
Soon after making this purchase, the work of sight-seeing began.
Each place we visited had a man at the entrance, and not one of us
could go inside without paying for the privilege. There were always a
half dozen idle fellows hanging about ready to sell cameos and other
curiosities which had been dug up in the vicinity, as they solemnly
avowed; in reality the cameos were of modern manufacture, and made in
Rome or Naples. The speculators would begin by asking fifty francs for
a cameo which was worth about five, and which they would sell for five
if they could not get any more. If we safely ran the gantlet through
these avaricious tradesmen, we were beset by local guides who wanted
to lead us, and we generally found it desirable to employ some of them
in order to see what the place contained. In one instance these guides
acted as pack-horses, and I can testify that one of them, at least,
had all that he wanted to carry; and this is the way it happened.
[Illustration: CITY OF NAPLES, BAY, AND MT. VESUVIUS.—SEAPORT
OF SOUTH ITALY, NEAR THE SITES OF HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII.]
[Illustration: A RIDE IN NAPLES.]