rnoon (19th) another lava stream
forced its way out of the same place from whence came the lava of last
year, so that the conflagration was soon as great on this side of the
mountain as on the other which I had just left. I observed on my way to
Naples, which was in less than two hours after I had left the mountain,
that the lava had actually covered three miles of the very road through
which we had retreated. This river of lava in the Atrio del Cavallo was
sixty or seventy feet deep, and in some places nearly two miles broad.
Besides the explosions, which were frequent, there was a continued
subterranean and violent rumbling noise, which lasted five hours in
the night,--supposed to arise from contact of the lava with rain-water
lodged in cavities within. The whole neighborhood was shaken violently;
Portici and Naples were in the extremity of alarm; the churches were
filled; the streets were thronged with processions of saints, and
various ceremonies were performed to quell the fury of the mountain.

"In the night of the 20th, the occasion being critical, the prisoners in
the public jail attempted to escape, and the mob set fire to the gates
of the residence of the Cardinal Archbishop because he refused to bring
out the relics of St. Januarius. The 21st was a quieter day, but the
whole violence of the eruption returned on the 22d, at 10 A. M., with
the same thundering noise, but more violent and alarming. Ashes fell in
abundance in the streets of Naples, covering the housetops and balconies
an inch deep. Ships at sea, twenty leagues from Naples, were covered
with them.

"In the midst of these horrors, the mob, growing tumultuous and
impatient, obliged the Cardinal to bring out the head of St. Januarius,
at the extremity of Naples, toward Vesuvius; and it is well attested
here that the eruption ceased the moment the saint came in sight of
the mountain. It is true the noise ceased about that time after having
lasted five hours, as it had done the preceding days.

"On the 23d the lava still ran, but on the 24th it ceased; but smoke
continued. On the 25th there rose a vast column of black smoke, giving
out much forked lightning with thunder, in a sky quite clear except for
the smoke of the volcano. On the 26th smoke continued, but on the 27th
the eruption came to an end."

This eruption was also described by Sir William Hamilton, who continued
to keep a close watch on the movements of the volcano for many years.
The nex