eathern belt, which the traveler takes
hold of, and being drawn up by his guide, makes his way the easier with
foot and staff. In this manner we reached the flat from which the cone
rises; toward the north lay the ruins of the summit.

A glance westward over the country beneath us, removed, as well as a
bath could, all feeling of exhaustion and fatigue, and we now went round
the ever-smoking cone, as it threw out its stones and ashes. Wherever
the space allowed of our viewing it at a sufficient distance, it
appeared a grand and elevating spectacle. In the first place, a violent
thundering toned forth from its deepest abyss, then stones of larger and
smaller sizes were showered into the air by thousands, and enveloped by
clouds of ashes. The greatest part fell again into the gorge; the rest
of the fragments, receiving a lateral inclination, and falling on the
outside of the crater, made a marvelous rumbling noise. First of all the
larger masses plumped against the side, and rebounded with a dull heavy
sound; then the smaller came rattling down; and last of all, drizzled a
shower of ashes. All this took place at regular intervals, which by
slowly counting, we were able to measure pretty accurately.

Between the summit, however, and the cone the space is narrow enough;
moreover, several stones fell around us, and made the circuit anything
but agreeable. Tischbein now felt more disgusted than ever with
Vesuvius, as the monster, not content with being hateful, showed an
inclination to become mischievous also.

As, however, the presence of danger generally exercises on man a kind of
attraction, and calls forth a spirit of opposition in the human breast
to defy it, I bethought myself that, in the interval of the eruptions,
it would be possible to climb up the cone to the crater, and to get back
before it broke out again. I held a council on this point with our
guides under one of the overhanging rocks of the summit, where, encamped
in safety, we refreshed ourselves with the provisions we had brought
with us. The younger guide was willing to run the risk with me; we
stuffed our hats full of linen and silk handkerchiefs, and, staff in
hand, we prepared to start, I holding on to his girdle.

The little stones were yet rattling around us, and the ashes still
drizzling, as the stalwart youth hurried forth with me across the hot
glowing rubble. We soon stood on the brink of the vast chasm, the smoke
of which, altho a gentle air w