ravelling in an express train from Rome we find ourselves whirled
suddenly, by magic as it were, into the atmosphere of the South, when with
the sight of the domes and towers of Capua, the ancient capital of
Campania the Prosperous, we first note the presence of orange trees and
hedges of aloe, of white lupin crops and clumps of prickly pear, and we
feel we are nearing Naples with "its burning mountain and its tideless
sea," so that we eagerly strain our eyes in a southerly direction to catch
our first glimpse of Vesuvius, with whose shape and history we have been
so familiar since our childhood's days. At length we perceive its double
summit, with smoke tranquilly issuing from the cone and obscuring the
clarity of the air, and as we hurry forward towards our destination,
through the plains studded with elm-trees festooned with vines, we have
the satisfaction of observing its form grow larger and more distinct in
outline.

On our arrival at Naples, in course of time we grow more intimately
acquainted with the peculiar attractions of "the Mountain," as the
Neapolitans always designate their treacherous but fascinating neighbour,
of whose near existence they have every reason to be proud, for certainly
Vesuvius, though barely as lofty as Ben Nevis, _is_ to us westerns the
most famous mountain upon earth. Regarding Vesuvius both from the land and
the sea, we note that it rises in solitary majesty from an extended base
some thirty miles in circumference, and that it sweeps upwards in graceful
curving lines until at a distance of about 3000 feet from sea level its
summit is cleft into two peaks; that to the north being a rocky ridge
which catches our eye as we gaze eastward from the heights of Sant' Elmo
or the Corso at Naples, the other point being the actual cone of the
volcano itself. The upper part of the Mountain has in fact two aspects; in
other words, Vesuvius is double, being composed of the ridge of Monte
Somma to the north, 3760 feet in height, which is pre-historic; and the
ever-shifting modern dome of Vesuvius to the south, which is _about_ 4000
feet high. We say "about" purposely, for Vesuvius proper sometimes
over-tops, sometimes equals, and sometimes even crouches under its
immovable sister-peak, according to the effect produced by volcanic
action. Monte Somma, which is one of the everlasting hills, is the parent,
and Vesuvius is the child, born but yesterday from a geological point of
view, for it is not so ol