d by
several others, which appeared and disappeared. It seemed completely
perforated, and the lava oozed as it were through its whole surface. I
cannot better express this phenomenon, than by saying that _Vesuvius
sweated fire_. In the day-time, the cone appeared momentarily covered
with white steam jets (fumaroles), which looked like flakes of cotton
against the dark mountain-side, appearing and disappearing at brief
intervals.

Simultaneously with the grand fissure of the cone, two large craters
opened at the summit, discharging with a dreadful noise, audible at a
great distance, an immense cloud of smoke and ashes with bombs and
flakes, rising to the height of 1300 metres[C] above the brim of lava
(_sull' orlo de essi_). The white ashes, before described, although they
did not fall beyond the Crocella, were carried by the wind as far as
Cosenza, from whence they were sent to me by Dr. Conti. These ejections
were followed by dark sand, with lapilli and small fragments of scoriae
of the same colour. The smoke, driven up with violence, assumed the
usual aspect of a pine tree, of so sad a colour that it reminded us of
the shadowy elm of Virgil's dreams ("_ulmus opaca ingens_"). From the
trunk and branches of the pine-tree cloud fell a rain of incandescent
material, which frequently covered all the cone. The lapilli and the
ashes were carried to greater distances.

The victims of the morning of the 26th, the torrents of fire which
threatened Resina, Bosco and Torre Annunziata, and which devastated the
fertile country of the Novelle, of Massa, St. Sebastiano and Cercola,
the two partially buried villages, the continual and threatening
growlings of the craters, caused such terror that numbers fled from
their dwellings near the mountain into Naples, and several in Naples
went to Rome or to other places. Very many delayed from the knowledge
that I was in the Observatory, and held themselves in readiness for
flight whenever I should abandon it.

The rapidity with which the vast torrent of fire assailed the houses
(_i.e._, in these villages), and the great heat which spread to a
distance, scarcely allowed the fugitives to carry away any of their
belongings; many were completely destitute. The authorities vied with
each other in zealous efforts to relieve the distress, and the
municipality of Naples sheltered and fed the wretched beings for many
days.

The igneous period of the eruption was short, for on the morning of the