Peter Parley's Wonders of the Earth, Sea, and Sky

CHAPTER IX.

PARLEY TELLS SOMETHING ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MOUNT VESUVIUS.

I am going to relate to you the biography of a Volcano, and I hope you will find it amusing.

Before the time of the Roman Emperor Trajan, Mount Vesuvius had been quiet for a great many centuries. It is known that it had had many eruptions before then, because there are some great lava streams close by it, on which some of the most ancient Italian cities are built. In particular, Herculaneum, which was said to have been built by the Demi-god Hercules, and must therefore have been of the remotest antiquity, was built chiefly of blocks of lava, and founded upon a vast stream of the same substance.

And besides, there is no doubt that the land all about the neighbourhood in the remotest times, bore evident marks of the action of fire; for it was here that the Poets pretended that the gate of Hell was, and close by the black and dreary-looking lake Avernus, which you may read about in the Æneid of Virgil. This was also the place where the Cimmerians dwelt, whom Ulysses is said to have visited, according to Homer, on his way to the regions of the dead.

THE GROTTO DEL CANO.

Near here, too, was the celebrated Grotto del Cano, the cave which used to destroy the lives of small animals put into it, by means of the exhalations that rose from the bottom; but as these exhalations were heavier than the air, consisting chiefly of the gas called carbonic acid, they did not rise much above the bottom. This is what an old writer, the account of whose travels I am very fond of, says of it.

"Whatsoever hath life, being thrust into the farre end, doth die in an instant. Yet entred it may be a good way with safety; neither heat nor cold will oppress you, nor is there any damp or vapour to be discerned; being perspicuous to the bottome, and the sole thereof dusty. We made triall with a dog; which we no sooner had thrust in, but without crying, or otherwise struggling than if shot to the heart, his tongue hung out, and his eyes setled in his head, to our no small amazement. Forthwith drawne out, starke, and to our seeming without shew of life, we threw him into the lake; when anon he recovered, and swimming to the shore, ran crying away as fast as hee could, to the not farre distant Osteria: where they get no small part of their living by shewing this place unto forreiners. And it is a sport to see how the dogs thereabout will steale away, and scud to the tops of the mountaines, at the approach of a stranger. The French King Charles, the eighth of that name, who held the kingdome of Naples for a while; made triall thereof with an Asse, which immediately died. The like befell to a foole-hardy souldier. Peter of Toledo caused two offenders to be thrust thereinto, and both expired in a moment. Nor found those three gallants any better successe, who tempted God with their desperate entrance. This place was not unknowne to Pliny, who calleth it the Cave of Charon. The cause of so deadly an effect, is said to proceede from the fervent vapours ascending at invisible pores, so thin, so dry, and subtile, as not to be discerned: yet thickned by the cold that enters at the mouth of the Cave, convert into moisture, which hangs farre within on the roofe like to drops of quick-silver; and such esteemed to bee by a number. Carona Pighyus, desirous to informe himselfe in the mysteries hereof, ventured so farre in as to touch one of those farre of shining drops, and shewed it to his companions, who entred also, and stayed therein about a minute of an houre: sensibly perceiving the heat to arise from their feet to their thighs, till they did sweat at the browes without the endammaging of their senses, who return'd, to the wonder of the guide, that thought they had preserved themselves by enchantments. By this their experiment it appeares that the aire is most deadly neere to the pores where it first ascended; especially to such creatures as hold their heads downeward, exhaling at their nostrils the dry and hote vapours. Thrust a torch neere the bottome, and it will forthwith go out: yet advanced higher, re-inflames, which approves the former assertion."

OF THE DEATH OF PLINY THE NATURALIST.

But although there were such gloomy places in the neighbourhood, in the reign of Trajan, less than a hundred years after the Christian Era, Mount Vesuvius was clothed with blooming vineyards, and corn fields, studded with villas and beautiful gardens, and with three or four rich and populous cities near its foot.

The height of the mountain was then much less than it is at present, and it seems to have had a broad flat top, nearly surrounded by a ridge.

This shape will account for the spot being chosen by the Roman rebel Spartacus to encamp in, with his gladiators and slaves, when he put Rome in danger.

For some time before the first eruption on record, there were dreadful earthquakes, of which the effects are still to be seen in the cracked and ruined walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. "There were great droughts," says the historian, "and violent earthquakes, so that the whole plain boiled and bubbled, and the hills leapt, and there were noises under ground like thunder, and above ground like roaring; the seas made a noise, and the Heavens resounded, and then a sudden mighty crash was heard, as if the mountains were dashed together; great stones were then hurled upwards, and were followed by mighty fires, and immense smoke, so that the whole air was overshadowed, and the sun quite hidden as in an eclipse."

The same writer then tells us about some wonderful giants appearing to wander about the summit of the mountain, which neither you nor I shall be ready to believe.

Pliny, the great naturalist, was at that time living at the town of Misenum, and as he was a man always prying into nature, and wishing to know the causes of things, you may suppose his curiosity was very much excited by these strange occurrences. But he paid dearly for this laudable curiosity, as you shall hear in the account which his nephew has left us of the event.

"On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and after bathing himself in cold water, and taking a slight repast, had retired to his study. He immediately arose and went out upon an eminence, from whence he might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterwards to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give a more exact description of its figure, than by comparing it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up a great height in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in this manner: it appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I rather chose to continue my studies; for, as it happened, he had given me an employment of that kind. As he was coming out of the house, he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa being situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea: she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with an heroical turn of mind. He ordered the gallies to put to sea, and went himself on board with the intention of assisting not only Rectina, but several others; for the villas stand extremely thick upon that beautiful coast. When hastening to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his direct course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice-stones, and black pieces of burning rock: they were likewise in danger, not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should return back again; to which the pilot advising him, 'Fortune,' said he, 'befriends the brave; carry me to Pomponianus.'"

His nephew then goes on to relate that he joined his friend who was in another vessel, and went on shore, where he took a bath and sat down to supper, not seeming to be in the least alarmed, when everybody about him was in the greatest consternation. He then went to sleep so soundly, that he was heard to snore. The ashes fell so thick in the court before his apartment, that it was getting nearly impassable, and his servants thought proper to awaken him. The walls of the houses began to rock, and he and his friends then resolved to go out into the fields, lest the stones and bricks should fall upon them. They tied pillows upon their heads, and went out with torches, for though it was daytime, the clouds of steam and ashes made it quite dark. They went down to the sea, and found it in violent commotion. Either a sudden gust of wind then brought the effluvia of the volcano towards them, or else a little stream of deadly vapour burst out from a crack in the ground, which dispersed the rest of the company. But Pliny, who was a fat asthmatic old man, had laid down upon the ground to watch what was going on. He attempted to rise, but almost before he had got on his feet, he fell down dead.

"As soon as it was light again," says his nephew, "which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he fell."

It was in the same eruption that the two great cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed by substances thrown out by the volcano. It does not appear that a single stream of lava flowed out till many years afterwards.

There were several great eruptions between this time and the year 1306, and then the volcano was very nearly quiet for more than 300 years. During this time the volcanic power broke out in another place called Puzzuoli, at several miles distance. After a succession of violent eruptions, the earth was cleft open, and a hill, which is now called the Monte Nuovo, was thrown up in the space of a single night, which is 440 feet high, and a mile and a half in circumference.

At the end of this period Vesuvius was richly covered with vegetation, even within the crater. But since the year 1650, there has not been ten years pass without an eruption.

The form of the mountain has quite changed, and a little mountain has grown up out of the old broad topped one, as you may see in the above picture.

HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII.

These cities which were of great extent and importance, seem to have been almost forgotten during more than 1600 years. They are not often mentioned in Roman history, and, strange to say, the Latin writers who describe the eruption of Vesuvius, by which they must have been buried, have said nothing about them, except a very vague allusion or two, which would hardly have attracted any notice, if what I am going to tell you of, had not happened.

In the year 1713, as some people were sinking a well, they discovered two statues, one of Hercules, and the other of Cleopatra; and continuing to dig in several directions, they found they had got into a Roman theatre, and after a while they discovered that this Theatre was that of the City of Herculaneum. But in consequence of the hardness of the ground, and the great depth of the city under the surface, which is one hundred feet, they have only been able to clear out a very few buildings, and those cannot be seen except by torchlight, so that very little is known about it.

I cannot tell you exactly how the ruins of Pompeii were first discovered to be the remains of a city. It appears that an architect, who was employed to make a subterranean canal to convey water to the town of Torre dell'Annunziata, nearly 300 years ago, met with some fragments of buildings; and about eighty years afterwards, enough was seen to convince the discoverers that the ruins were extensive. In the year 1755, a regular plan of excavation was commenced, and nearly the whole city is now exposed to the light of day.

The situation of Pompeii is considerably further from the crater of Vesuvius than that of Herculaneum, and to that circumstance is owing the superiority of its preservation, and the greater moveableness of the substances which covered it. It is probable that both cities were originally assailed by alluvions, or streams of mud, such as I told you of some time ago, as well as by showers of cinders and stones. But while Pompeii was only fourteen or fifteen feet below the surface, and never had anything besides cinders and earth above it, several streams of lava flowed over Herculaneum, with layers of the different substances, which the volcano throws into the air, between them, so as to raise the surface one hundred feet.

Pompeii was three miles in circumference, and was a sea-port town, though it is now a full mile from the sea. This is known, because the steps which used to lead down from the quay, for the convenience of passengers going into boats, are still remaining, and so are some large metal rings which were intended for cables to be fastened to.

There are several inscriptions in both cities commemorating the great injuries done by an earthquake which happened in the reign of the Emperor Nero, sixteen years before they were destroyed. There are also great cracks to be seen in some of the walls, testifying of the same event. This was one of the efforts of the volcanic power to get free before Vesuvius became the safety-valve.

It is very evident that there was ample warning of the catastrophe before it happened, and that most of the people had time to escape, for the number of skeletons found has been but small. In the barracks, there were the skeletons of two soldiers chained in the stocks. There were seventeen persons found in the cellar of a house just out of the town, who seem to have fled there for safety, and the deluge of mud then seems to have flowed in upon them, for their bones were found in hardened mud. One of the number was a woman, with an infant in her arms, and the impression of her form in the mud, was wonderfully perfect, though there was nothing left of her but the bones. She seems to have been the mistress of the house, and a person of consequence, since she had a chain of gold about her neck, and rich rings on her fingers.

In these instances, (and there are related several others similar,) the destruction of the persons seems to be accounted for by the peculiar circumstances in which they were placed. The soldiers, poor fellows, would, doubtless, have gone off with their companions, if they had not been in the stocks; and the family of seventeen might have escaped if they had fled into the open country, instead of into their cellar.

The warning does not however seem to have been very long before the sad event, perhaps only about an hour. There have recently been found three skeletons, which seem to have belonged to a father, mother, and daughter, (the latter of whom was decorated with pearl-rings and ear-rings,) who were in the act of rushing out of their house. And in one of the squares of the city, a traveller saw "a new altar of white marble, exquisitely beautiful, and apparently just out of the hands of the sculptor, which had been erected there; an enclosure was building all round; the mortar, just dashed against the side of the wall, was but half spread out; you saw the long sliding stroke of the trowel about to return and obliterate its own track—but it never did return: the hand of the workman was suddenly arrested, and, after the lapse of 1800 years, the whole looks so fresh and new, that you would almost say the mason was only gone to his dinner, and about to come back immediately to smooth the roughness."

It is not unlikely that in the early part of the eruption, the ashes and cinders which the volcano threw out, fell in showers on the cities, and that the walls were shaken by the subterranean movements, so that most of the inhabitants thought themselves less in danger in the open fields, like the people of Misenum, who went into the fields with pillows tied on their heads, as described by Pliny the younger, in the passage I quoted just now. Some few others, less afraid of their houses tumbling down about their ears, than of the bombs and cinders, betook themselves to their cellars, and such places as they thought safest.

I shall now tell you a little of what has been discovered relating to the ancient state of the City.

Its walls were about three miles in circumference; the streets were generally narrow, and paved with great flags of lava, which are furrowed by very deep ruts made by the wheels of the carriages that once passed busily along them. When the great hardness of the paving material is considered, this circumstance is very remarkable, and shows that the flags must have been laid down for a very long period, for the like is not to be seen in the streets of the most ancient City in Europe.

Plate X. p. 131

FORUM OF POMPEII.

The Forum was a very elegant building, and if you look in the plate, you will see a correct representation of what remains of it. The Forums of ancient cities were not mere marketplaces, although provisions and other commodities were offered in them for sale; but they also contained places fitted for meetings of the people, and other public uses. You will thus understand how it was that a place not larger than Pompeii had such an extensive Forum.

The names of the owners over the door of each house are still to be seen, and some of them are perfectly legible; and the colours of the paintings on the walls of the houses, are as fresh as if they had been painted yesterday. Some books have been found, but they are less perfect than those in Herculaneum, where a whole library has been discovered.

The wood of the houses in Herculaneum is astonishingly perfect if you just scrape off the surface, and some linen has been discovered, of which the texture could be distinctly seen. There were also some vessels full of almonds, chesnuts, and walnuts, in a fruiterer's shop, which preserved their form entire. A baker lived near neighbour to this fruiterer, and in his shop was a loaf with his stamp upon it, "ELERIS Q. CRANI RISER." Not far off was an apothecary's shop, in which was a box of pills, and a little roll of some kind of medicine ready to be cut into pills, with a jar of herbs and other medicines. Another shop contained some sauces and olives, which were quite moist. These curious relics have been sealed up in glass, and placed in the Museum of Naples.

There is a house in one of the streets of Pompeii, on one of the walls of which there has been scratched with some sharp-pointed instrument, a rude device like this:

The letters in the corner, are, "Campani victoria una cum Nucerinis peristis." Campanians, you perished in the victory along with the Nucerians. This was a jest of some merry fellow making fun of the inhabitants of Nuceria, a neighbouring city, and of some other parts of Campania, over whom they had gained a victory in a squabble. We are told that the Nucerians, when they were dead beaten, went like cowards to the Emperor Nero, and laid their case before him. He decided in their favour, and punished the Pompeians in what may seem a strange way to you,—he forbade them to have any amusements in their theatre for ten years. However, from what we know of the general disposition and habits of the ancient Greeks and Romans, this was a very severe punishment to them. From the scarcity of books, arising from their being copied by hand, instead of being printed, but few of them could spend their leisure time in reading, as so many of us do now; and in consequence of this, the theatre was to them at once the principal source of literary improvement and of amusement.

Plate XI. p. 136

FALLS OF NIAGARA

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