wenty
feet away could not be seen. Breathing was difficult, and the smoke made
the eyes water. At Naples, however, a favorable wind had cleared the air
of smoke, the sun shone brightly, and the versatile people were happy
once more. The goggles and eye-screens had disappeared, but the streets
were anything but comfortable, for some six thousand men were at work
clearing the ashes from the roofs and main streets and piling them in
the middle of the narrow streets, making the passage of vehicles very
difficult and the sidewalks far from comfortable for foot passengers.

But while brightness and joy reigned at Naples, there were gruesome
scenes within the volcanic zone. At Bosco Trecase soldiers carried on
the work of exhumation, being able to work only an hour at a time on
account of the advanced stage of decomposition of the bodies. Many of
these were shapeless, unrecognizable masses of flesh and bones, while
others were little disfigured. To lessen the danger of an epidemic the
bodies were buried as quickly as possible in quicklime.

On Sunday, the 15th, the searchers at Ottejano were surprised at finding
two aged women still alive, after six days' entombment in the ruins.
They were among those who had been buried by the falling walls a week
before. The rafters of the house had protected them, and a few morsels
of food in their pockets aided to keep them alive. At some points there
the ashes were ten feet deep. At San Giuseppe bodies of women were found
in whose hands were coins and jewels, and one woman held a jewelled
rosary. This recalls the results of exploration at Herculaneum and
Pompeii, where were similar instances of death overtaking the victims of
the volcano while fleeing with their jewels in their hands.

It is interesting to learn that two men stood heroically to their post
of duty during the whole scene of the explosion, Professor Matteucci,
Director of the Royal Observatory, and his American assistant, Professor
Frank A. Perret, of New York. Though the building occupied by them
was exposed to the full force of the rain of stones from the burning
mountain, they remained undauntedly at their post through that week of
terror. On the 14th some of that venturesome fraternity, the newspaper
correspondents, reached their eyrie on the highest habitable point on
Vesuvius and heard the story of their experiences.

THE HEROES OF THE OBSERVATORY.

For several days Professors Matteucci and Perret and their two