Отрывок из книги
Sir William Hamilton
Published by Good Press, 2019
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The lava continued to run over the ancient crater in small streams, sometimes on one side, and sometimes on another, till the 18th of October, when I took particular notice that there was not the least lava to be seen; owing, I imagine, to its being employed in forcing its way towards the place where it burst out the following day. As I had, contrary to the opinion of most people here, foretold the approaching eruption[7], and had observed a great fermentation in the mountain after the heavy rains which fell the 13th and 14th of October; I was not surprized, on the 19th following, at seven of the clock in the morning, to perceive from my villa every symptom of the eruption being just at hand. From the top of the little mountain issued a thick black smoak, so thick that it seemed to have difficulty in forcing its way out; cloud after cloud mounted with a hasty spiral motion, and every minute a volley of great stones were shot up to an immense height in the midst of these clouds; by degrees, the smoak took the exact shape of a huge pine-tree, such as Pliny the younger described in his letter to Tacitus, where he gives an account of the fatal eruption in which his uncle perished[8]. This column of black smoak, after having mounted an extraordinary height, bent with the wind towards Caprea, and actually reached over that island, which is not less than twenty-eight miles from Vesuvius.
I warned my family, not to be alarmed, as I expected there would be an earthquake at the moment of the lava's bursting out; but before eight of the clock in the morning I perceived that the mountain had opened a mouth, without noise, about a hundred yards lower than the ancient crater, on the side towards the Monte di Somma; and I plainly perceived, by a white smoak, which always accompanies the lava, that it had forced its way out: as soon as it had vent, the smoak no longer came out with that violence from the top. As I imagined that there would be no danger in approaching the mountain when the lava had vent, I went up immediately, accompanied by one peasant only. I passed the hermitage (3. in Plate I.), and proceeded as far as the spot marked (X), in the valley between the mountain of Somma and that of Vesuvius, which is called Atrio di Cavallo. I was making my observations upon the lava, which had already, from the spot (E) where it first broke out, reached the valley; when, on a sudden, about noon, I heard a violent noise within the mountain, and at the spot (C), about a quarter of a mile off the place where I stood, the mountain split; and, with much noise, from this new mouth, a fountain of liquid fire shot up many feet high, and then, like a torrent, rolled on directly towards us. The earth shook, at the same time that a volley of pumice stones fell thick upon us; in an instant, clouds of black smoak and ashes caused almost a total darkness; the explosions from the top of the mountain were much louder than any thunder I ever heard, and the smell of the sulphur was very offensive. My guide, alarmed, took to his heels; and I must confess, that I was not at my ease. I followed close, and we ran near three miles without stopping; as the earth continued to shake under our feet, I was apprehensive of the opening of a fresh mouth, which might have cut off our retreat. I also feared that the violent explosions would detach some of the rocks off the mountain Somma, under which we were obliged to pass; besides, the pumice-stones, falling upon us like hail, were of such a size as to cause a disagreeable sensation upon the part where they fell. After having taken breath, as the earth still trembled greatly, I thought it most prudent to leave the mountain, and return to my villa; where I found my family in a great alarm, at the continual and violent explosions of the Volcano, which shook our house to its very foundation, the doors and windows swinging upon their hinges. About two of the clock in the afternoon another lava forced its way out of the same place from whence came the lava last year, at the spot marked B (in Plate II.); so that the conflagration was soon as great on this side of the mountain, as on the other which I had just left.
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