GREAT ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 117, 1 April 1862, Page 6

GREAT ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS.

[From the " Athenssum.] Naples, December 17, 1861. It is with sorrow that I.describe1 another of those awful phenomena which have so often desolated this fair land. Within the course of a few years I liave J witnessed 'several violent eruptions of Vesuvius, even more brilliant

than the present, and have felt my house rocking beneath me from the upheavings of that mysterious and insidious enemy, earthquuke, but I have never witnessed such consternation as that which was depicted on the (aces of a population of 22.fi00 souls who fled from Torre del Greco. When I first saw the" eruption I was walking with a friend, and happening to look over the inclination of a mountain which cut the se.a and the distant prospect, 1 saw what appeared to me to be a vast pine, and yet I said, rubbing my eyes, I do not remember one on that spot; it cannot be a pine, it must be smoke from Vesuvius ; and so it was—and at this, the commencement of the eruption, we could see the mighty mass from the roots, which were fixed in the base of the mountain, growing up with wonderful rapidity to a gigantic tree which touched the very heavens, and then spread its branches south and east and west, until the coast, sea, everything, was hidden from view. I never witnessed anything grander than the vaar masses of smoke which rose and rolled over one another In magnificent involutions, not anything which gave me a deeper consciousness of the powers of nature, than the loud artillery which preceded every impetus of the mountain, shaking our windows and doors at the distance .of many miles, and even at sea, as sailors told me, making their boats tremble in the water. As. night set in, the spectaclj changed its aspect it; it *wasi a confusion oe black and deep-red color, only at intervals it being possible" to see distinctly the column of fire and smoke. Forked lightning and other electric exhibitions played about the mountain, and formed a scene which no pen can describe. 'Great numbers of people went over from Naples on the same night; and lam toldthat it was a piteous thing to see the inhabitants rushing out panic struck from their houses, and carrying off all their household goods by the.glare of the fires which threatened their ruin. "By ten o'clock on" Sunday night," said one of the chief authorities of the district to me, J'five thousand persons had arrived In Torre del l'Annuziata; others fled to Naples,,and some pushed.further on to, Castellaraere,"—and t so the flight continued throughout .the hours of .darkness; and .all this anxious time we could hear, at intervals, rounds,' as it were, of artillery, which "shook our very- housej. About two o'clock after midnight,,, the-grand crater, which has been so long comparatively dormant; opened its fires," giving hopes to the despairing population that their dwellings might yet be saved; .but by whht infatuation -is it-that people still cling to a locality, which within the historic period, has been destroyed nine'times? On Monday morning I. went .over to examine on, the spot the devastation which had been .committed.:- 'As in.1848 and' 1855, the road from Naples to Portici was "lined with people watching the carriages I which rolled down one after another to Torre. It was a perfect fair, and the riiih^of the little town a few miles further on had created an unexpected amusement for the Neapolitans. On arriving we found Torre del Greco, a" thriving .place 0f,22,000 inhabitants, desolate,—the streets usually crowded with urchins, were empty, and the window's, commonly filled with women, attracted by,the shrill wistle of the railway train, were all shut up. There was no fishermen on the beach, and the masters of the coral boats had all vanished, for-as you" know Torre del Greco is the great depot for coral, the port from which sail out, in the month of March, I know not how many barques to fish up the bright-wonders of the deep on the-coast of Sardinia or Africa. All was as silent as death within the houses; it was another Pompeii, with the roofs on, though, unlike Pompeii, there were yet remaining signs of recent life and of a hurried flight. Melons and pomid'oro, in rich profusion, hung on the walls of the unteiianted houses; they had been carefully husbanded for tha feasts of Natale and Capo d'Anno; but Christmas and new year will be a sad season to this unfortunate people. At the station there was.a va«t and mingled crowd of Bersaglieri, National Guards, curious strangers, and panic-struck inhabitants, who had lingered longer than some others to carry off a few "articles of furniture." Every one had a bundle, and mattresses and cradles, and their usual tenants crowing at the " fun," were piled up ready to be carried off somewhere — anywhere. A little beyond , the station the road turns off to the left, which leads into the city and up to the mountain. There were patrols of 'the National Guards in the streets, watching the property of the fugitives; for hosts of thieves might well be expected down from the capital, as misfortune awakens the v»*orst as well as the best qualities of Human nature. There were crevices opened in the streets sufiicient to interrupt the passage of carriages in some places, and showing the fearful struggles which the imprisoned giant had bepn making to get out. Houses were riven from (op to bottom and opened across the roofs—few appeared to bo habitable in their present state, and one gentleman, unable to effect an entrance by the door of his house, was breaking in the windows. Altogether, the number of "houses up to that time which had suffered elisions, according to the official~staternent, amounted to from 400 to 500; but my opinion is that scarcely a house is secure. - The road ascends through the-city-to the mountain, and after walking about a quarter of a mile from the outskirts, 3'ou arrive at the stream of lava which, at this point, is about twenty-eight palms high and nearly half a mile across. It had risen to the roofs' of several houses,land was slowly proceeding onwards, though'its course Had slackened much since the morning," in consequence of the opening of the principal crater. About half a mile further on, the fiery mouths were visible vomiting'forth fire'and smoke and pumice stone; but fo intense was the heat,-and-so-thick the cloud of fine dust that fell around, that it was painful, if not dangerous, to advance. To count the number of mouths would be difficult, for new onesiwere opening'continually, and it was just as likely as not that we ourselvts might have been let in. The trains still run, and we go on toTorre dell'Annunziata," where 5,000 persons had arrived the night before by ten o'clock. • The roofs', o'nee so clean, were now covered with thick dust,-instead of-fine-grain and pasta turned out to dry. The streets were, blpcked up with every/species of vehicle, which had been engaged all night in bringing in the fugi-tives,-for who°ereception the magazines of the tower had been opened ; and there I saw them huddled together,by the hundred. -The more respectable classes had been quartered about amongst the inhabitants in the proportion offiv'e to fifteen in~a house ;"but all distinctions of rich and poor were broken down, for misfortune had made them-fellows, and they, met" each other as mati and mun. Beyond the confines of this place we began to leave the dust behind us;" there was a clearer sky above, and 'by the time we got to Castellamaie 'the atmosphere was clearer; but what a scene 1 Boats were coming in -as at Torre delj'Annnnziata,' with numbers of poor creotuaes nnd.such articles of furniture as in their panic they had been able to carry off. Mattrasses were scattered about the quays and thc'Bquares; and'cradles' and chairs, • and a few other household articles which were caught up in haste. Many women sat on logs of timber, knitting, .others lay along the ground with their children around them. Groups of men were standing about recounting to the bystand&is the horrors ofyawned in the interval. There was one cut the past night; I saw sick and aged "people supported by their friends, and 'being .led ; to some place, of refuge. There was an [old woman especially who appeared to haye' been paralyzed'by fright, and who excited .the compassion of the' crowd. All these had baen involved in ruin by the events of the last few "hoursV —arid who can "foresee the misiries to which they .will now be exposed for life'

'We have done the hest we can for them, said the Sotto-Prefetto; "we have put many of them in the Seminary, and others have been quartered on the inhabitants, whilst a subscription . has been opened for the supply of their immediate wants." Though there were hundreds of carriages and vehicles, nil were so occupied in the service of the poor sufferers tnat it was almost impossible to get one to push on to Sorrento and'yet we desired to see what the ernption had djane along the coast. The air was tolerably'clear in Castellamare; but on approaching Vieo we got beneath the column of smoke which the north wind was driving over the bay, and all the country appeared to beclothed in deep mourning. Black fine dust had fallen everywhere and covered everything. The roads were covered several inches deep, on the houses in Torre del Greco it was ascertained by measurement to be 4k inches in depth. Gardens full of vegetables "were blackened ; the monthly rose had changed its hue* ; the olive its silvery white for black ; the onmges had a corona of *dust upon them as clearly .defined as that of the acorn. The foliage was so laden that the branchs hung down with their weight, and it is not improbable that the orange and lemon crops will suffer greatly from the breaking down of the trees. I saw men'sweeping the cabbages and shaking the trees; and in one olive tree a peasant who was performing this operation was lost to view'in the cloud which came down around him. And all this time the dusty shower was falling rapidly. On the parapets of the walls the literary juvenils had written their names in the dust, as we when boys did in the sand and ashes. Ash was everywhere; it' clotlied all nature in mourning, and we bit it, and breathed it, and our eyes ran with water from its effects. At Sorrento the aspects were the same; the streets and the gardens looked as smooth as a sandy beach after the tide had receded ; the ashes had penetrated into the' innermost rooms of the • houses, and plates, and , dishes gave evidence of, the 'fact. '.'.Our, hoats," said the people, were, obliged to'carry, the compass .with them, or they never would .have found -Naples." •So it was_at the Piano, and so at Capri. "I do not'exaggerate when I tell you that'the obscurity was such as is produced by an eclipse of the sun'; but' in the" centre of the column it'was'so.deep^tHafc it was impossible to see' much before,'you! I went on the sea and marked! the surface—usually azure, blue, and clear,'so much.so.that "it-is possible, to see the rocks several fathoms deep, and the fish disporting amongst them; it was now the colour of- one of our muddy rivers, and as the mariners dashed their oars into the sea, the flakes of coke'receded right and left. " And we felt the sea vibrate beneath us during the whole night," said the .men, "at the every roar of the" mountain.'' Poor fellows! It was piteous)'though"laughable,''' to see how much they suffered from the action of the dust on their eyes, "which,, literally streamed .with water. " Put up your umbrella, sir," said they, "or you will be blinded." and so I did, but the enemy got under it, and then, fairly beaten,'l turned my back upon it. Push into shore and let us back to Naples. ■ The details were the same returning as coming, though the prospect was different. .The. mighty colum of,smoke we might have iinagined had supported the very heavens,' except that when it attained a vast height it turned south, and spread over the sea, covering the entire bay, and reaching how far we cannot yet say, though we know that Capri and Salerno were covered with the dust. We could see it falling like ballast from a balloon, and heaven knows that we felt it and gulped sometimes too much for easy respiration. On Sunday night the column'from the lower mouths just above Torre del Greco was calculated to have risen 10,0'iO feet in height, whilst that from the upper crater was estimated at 3000, and by some at 5000 feet. Towards, :the evening ' the artillery, which had been thunderinr all the day, ceased, and nothing remained to excite pur wonder but the grand electric lights which played around the crater on the summit—columns of fire and smoke continually rose up, intermingled with forked lightening and globes of pure electric ligb.t. During the night and the next morning there were fresh shocks of earthquakes, which added to the work of devastation. As Tuesday broke, the sun to us in Naples was eclipsed by the black cloud which still rolled between us and'the mountain; but as the orb of day gained a greater height the brilliant effects which were produced on the edges of the column were wonderfully grand. On Wednesday morning the column was much reduced .—the smoke from the lower mouths crept like mist over the surface of the land; two or three sharps shocks \ji earthquake were, however, felt in Torre, and several houses fell in. On Thursday morning I went over again, and now that the volcano had subsided into a sulky kind of repose, T proceeded to examine more in detail the different parts of the town. The train stopped short of the usual point, and passengers to Castellamare were compelled to walk half-a-mile to meet another train wtyich was waiting for them ,• ,and, for two reasons, the road had received several elisions, arid it was fearpd that the vibration of the carriages would bring down the-tottering houses on the line. For myself, I took possession of a National Guard, as it turned out a most stupid animal, but whose Ted cap I thought might be a protection. Happily we picked up with the " Parrdcco," who had returned to look after his property and his parishioners, and who did the honors of the desolate city, to us. "Let us go to the sea first," he said. . "Look at these mighty rocks; they are of the lava-of 1794. and observe'that'"th'e 'earthquake has now riven them. The flint-like substances had been cleft as with a knife, and through the middle of them were gushing do wn'streams of imprisoned water set free. The sea had retired twenty palms, from the elevation of the ground, arid a little way out it was boiling violently,—l believe fro.m the effect of subterraneous streams gushing up through the openings .which had ,been, made. "We went into a ruined house close at hand, and looked into a well, and listened *to the streams of water which were gushing through, from the mpper mountain; the sides of the well having been opc-hed" by the earthquake. Torre del Greco is formed of a number of streets running parallel and at right angles to one another; it lies at the base of the mountain ; and up the S,trada, della Ripa I fjrst bent my steps. As every house on, the line parallel to the rail.was:fissured,\Bo it. was liej-e,- and eyen worse—the ruin had been much advanced since Monday. There were large gaps opening throughout the length of this street, and of every other, in an'ascending direction, but I observed no transverse openings; yet in all directions the houses had Buffered, and seemed |to stand erect by special permission. " Let us come down jhis street on the left," said the Parrocco. It was the Strada Fontana, and there, at the bottom, the large fountain which had supplied the wants of the cfty was boiling up with disimprisoned streams, which gushed out from beneath. It had risen several palms in height; and though the quality of .the water was here but little changed,, in several j other places I visited it had a sharp, acid I taste. Most of the houses had suffered in this | street "perceptibly, and all, I believe, in fact., Againt some, ladders were placed, and | workmen were .breaking -holes in the1 facades, in -which to rest the poles | that were to their' props; others had fallen,' and were a mass of rubbish, whilst a wide gap so cleanly through the middle that a section was presented to the eye; and on the very edge of the' precipice- trembled a bed, ready made, but which had not been slept in ; whilst qhairs stood around, the one'Vall that remained, and a.-gridiron, ,and baskets, and vegetables still1 iinng.against it. ?Cwo cats which , had been imprisoned there had (been liberated, but there was little chance of the furniture

being got down, us the probabilities were that what remained of the house would fall inevitabty fall with a touch. Retracing my steps, I gnt got into the Strada Ripa again, and, following the course of fissure in the centre, mounted by some steps to the next street, which runs an right nngles—for Torre del Greco lies on so sharp a declivity, that the town is terraced. The continuation of the road upwards, now called the Stradu Santa Croce, exhibits the same sad scenes as that which we'nave just left; handsome"houses cut right through, and showing yawning gaps—some so crippled that another shock might do for them ; others but shells, tHe interiors having fallen in. There wns one especially I remarked, for it was larsje and handsome, and the fragments of the fallen masonwork protruded through the doors, la front of it was a large crater, which had opened with one of the recent shocks, and, Irioking in, I marvelled at the force which must have split the solW blocks of flint like lava,. of which the sub-stratum was formed. This was the old lava of 1794, and oh' this the new city is built.'The sons had erected their dwellings on the tombs of their fathers, and the grave seemed to have,opened to swallow*up tho grandsons. It wasobvious.'to me that the ground around Torre del Greco is hollow," for through the gaps which had been-formed in the riven lava, it appeared as if the site on which Torre stood was a thin crust in the form of a'Vault, and so the Forrocco evidently thought,for one of the reasons which he assigned for the escape of the inhabitants was, that they were npprehensive of the city falling in. 1 did not visit - all the side streets at,right angles, contenting myself with a peep, but all the houses were in the same state as those I have described, and some had fallen in. Nearly at the top of this street stands the church from which it takea its name, one of those pale-faced plaster, characterless edifices' which abound in Southern Italy. The " Santa Croce," which stood erect and replaced one that was destroyed in 1794, but happier ttianits'neighbur the Campanile or Belfry, had manfully .Withstood" the storm, .with .this exception, however, that whereas it had .formerly, consisted,of four floors, the two. lower ,ones had been.,swallowed.uj>. ; bjr,tb.e lava, and the third and fourth still remain to telLthe'tale. Thus.proceeding; through such scenes .of.desolation as' I have never-witnessed before, sofhe'times' Warned away from the side of the houses lest they might .'fall, and at.others standing a chance of being overwhelmed by the ocean of 'dust which' was being' swept off in order to lighten the houses,' I got Wq the direction of the country;; and, passing; by • fertile s ,and smiling vineyards! found myself shortly on,'the old ' lava beds, which ' Time. had not, yet'pulverized nor man had built upon. It was rough walking- for some distance, and our :.stupid guide, not the Parrocco,- but a man rejoicing in the title* of a-National Guard, kept on trying to; coyer his ignorance by saying that he wnnted to .show, us everything. And so he did," and a vast deal more than we cared tcTsee. Patience, however, and our legs soon:brou'ght us to the foot of the great crater, above which rose the lor.d of the surrounding district. Here at the. base we marked,the,new mouths jvhich had been so recently opened. There are.four larger ones. Several were formed on the hill_ side as we stood there, and one'or two were close by us. Decked out they were in all the' colors of the r'ainbowj and hungry-looking-'men werecollecting specimens for sale. Beneath our feet the smoke' continually ascended, and a quivering heat that made us move from one spot to another. To cross the bed of lava, which is-here full a quarter of a mile across, would have been, therefore, impossible, to say nothing of the possibility of our breaking through the black crystalized cream which ** just covered the glowing stream,—so that we returned by the road by which we came, over the old lava again, and which had been 1 uplifted and cleft in many places by the several earthquakes of the week. A quarter of a mile before re-enterinir the city we turned off a few steps from the road, and came at once upon the new bed just at the point where it terminated, or rather diverged, for had it not done .so, so rapid is the ' declivity, that I am persuaded that by this time a great part of Torre would be under the liquid fire. At'this point it stands full twenty-eight palms above the level of the ground, and none but those who have seen it can imagine how that blackened mass could have moved on so regularly and swiftly. I mounted to the top, and found myself on the roof a .peasant's house which had been overwhelmed, and from which I could obtain art extensive' view over the surrouuding district. All was black, and everywhere 'vineyards and olive grounds, and fruittrees and the white mulberry were all gone; and where, a few days before, there existed indications.of the highest cultivation sterility had laid its curse for a century. The old bed which I had just passed over was formed in 1794, and yet there it was as black and as hard as ever, except where a rush or a reed had struggled through some small fissure. How many years may pass away before the lately smiling district shall again produce its oil and wine! There were several singular features in the scene; a house clqs'e by us had just esr caped destruction, the lava flowed by it at nq greater distance than a yard or two,. and looked in at the windows, whilst several trees that were buried to the branches still retained their verdure. Here of course the bed was wider than in any other direction; the lava had come rollicking down in its mad mirth, and had spread right and left to the width of twothirds of a mile, and then its course was arrested. But Here we are again in the. city which is full of bustle, for'now that the mountain'is in'comparative repose, .the inhabitants are returning to carry off the goods which in their hasty flight they.had left behind them. " None will remain here,'' said the Parrocco, " we'fear'another disaster," —and besides tliig the houses are not safe. I sent off all my friends on Sunday night, and for myself I slept on board a boat out at sea last night. I cannot describe the remarkable scene which presented itself, and which can only be likened to what Naples is on the 4th of May, when' every one thinks it almost a duty to change his house. Some were bringing out their furniture, lind with every precaution lest -their houses should fall upon them; in some cases it was too dangerous to enter, and the furniture was left behind; household goods, chairs, tables, mattresses, were piled up on every street and in every doorway, and the' proprietors sat in guard before them. Then there were porters, cabmen and sail<jrs,by the hundred, driving bargains or carrying the goods'away tq the boats qr,'th,e carfs, a/i'the case might be. Frpm the lower part qf .the town articles^ were sent off by sea or the line; whilst it} the,upper part,they wete despatched by carriages by the old road. The poof people had put up rudo engravings of the Madonna on their houses ; and though Torre.werc destroyed ninety-nine instead of nine times, they would do the same. I should ill discharge my duty if I did not say that both the' Government and the people have risen with the occasion, and done honour to the Italian namel Two. steamers run . backwards and forwards twice a day for the convenience of these unfortunate persons. Two regiments have been put to work to transport furniture and carry food. The Government " has given 160,000 francs, the King 40,000, and General La Marihora 3,000, for the relief of the inhabitants. The barracks of the G'ranier of Nbrcera, Cava, and- Salerno, or, at least, a portion, of them, have'been devoted to the occasion, as also one of the Palaces. Yesteiday we had much rain; but this morning the same weather which we have had for so long a time has re-appeared—a northerly wind with a clear blue sky. The barometer is high and the show, and, what our sailors call the cotton on the mountains, promise a continuance of the same weather. As, I conclude my letter, Vesuvius-has just burst out again .with: great yioJenqftj and the. ashes are sweeping1 agaia over the-bay. " ' " ' ' ' "