The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
As yet I have done scarcely more than note the fact of the eruption of Vesuvius, but so much has it increased since Wednesday last, and so marvellously beautiful is the spectacle, that it merits a more detailed report. Unlike those terrific displays which we have had at times, and which ceased with one great effort, this is a lava eruption increasing ever in force and beauty, and promising a duration of some weeks, if not months. Since December, 1861, it has been almost quiescent, with the exception of one or two sulky and uncertain puffs, and our clear blue atmosphere has ceased to be marked with the spiral columns of smoke. On the very summit has gaped the huge crater, measuring nearly 700 feet in circumference, and around which even children might have played, being careful only to avoid certain sulphurous exhalations which were emitted at intervals. During the last two years a small cone has been formed by the matter gradually ejected from this sulphurous hole; we could scarcely see its head above the walls of the large crater, but within the last week, like some presumptuous stripling, it has shot up above its venerable parent, and this it is which has been fuming and sputtering, and storming with all the arrogant impatience of youth since last Wednesday. It has sent forth an immense quantity of lava, converting the surrounding crater into a lake of fire. At first the high circling walls kept it within bounds, but gradually it has risen and risen until it is now flowing down in several directions where the abrupt and irregular wall admits of a passage. There was no incident to mark until we got to the foot of the cone, when we heard the thunder of the mountain and felt the shocks as of an earthquake at every effort to disgorge the liquid fire. Ascending by the usual road, we were compelled, on approaching the summit, to skirt a little round to the southeast, for two reasons—first, to get on the blind side of the wind which might have brought down upon us an inconvenient shower of stones; and, secondly, to obtain a better view of the main stream, which was fed, not only by the great crater, but by another orifice opened outside, about twenty feet in diameter. From this spot the stream of living fire, full twenty to thirty feet in width, poured down to the bottom of the mountain rapidly where it met with no obstacles, and where it did, struggled energetically until it carried everything before it. To the edge of the crater it was impossible to approach; the heat was scorching; and what would have been the consequences had the lava boiled over and come down upon us? It was difficult, therefore, to form any fair estimate of its size, but one might have supposed that it was not over seventy feet in diameter. It was not a moment, however, for figures, when nature was exhibiting her power in one of its grandest forms. There was a roar and a shock, and then shot forth flames and stones full 1,000 feet in height, at intervals of from one to five seconds, according to the watch of one of the party. These tremendous convulsions were repeated, and then came the descending shower, composed of stones of various sizes, some certainly half a ton in weight, judging by the bulk. We could mark their course by the eye as long as they retained their red heat, but on approaching the earth they blackened, and then the ear alone could tell what was spotting and pitting the earth around. By the same person who had already acted as calculator it was declared that the descent occupied five seconds—much in excess, I should imagine, of the actual time. Precision, of course, was impossible in the excitement of such a scene, and if we say 1,000 feet was the height attained we shall not be wide of the mark. It was a nervous proximity to danger on which to stand, so the whole party soon decamped, and got back to Naples shortly after midnight, awe-struck by a scene which never can be forgotten. —Naples Correspondence (Nov. 20) of the New York Tribune.