Page:Awful phenomena of nature (2).pdf/47

 ſide of the mountain, came down with a horrid ruſhing noiſe; and ſome of them, after having forced their way through the narrow gullies of the mountain, roſe to the height of more than twenty feet, and were near half a mile in extent. The mind, of which the torrents were compoſed, being a kind of natural mortar, completely caſed up and ruined ſome thouſand acres of rich vineyards; for it ſoon becomes ſo hard, that nothing leſs than a pickaxe can break it up.

The laudable curioſity of our author induced him to go upon Mount Veſuvius, as ſoon as it was conſiſtent with any degree of prudence, which was not until the 30th of June, and even then it was attended with ſome riſk. The crater of Veſuvius, except at ſhort intervals, had been continually obſcured by the volcanic clouds from 10th, and was ſo on that day, with frequent flaſhes of lightning playing in thoſe clouds, and attended as uſual with a noiſe like thunder; and the fine aſhes were ſtill falling on Veſuvius, but ſtill more on the mountain of Somma. Sir William went up the uſual way by Reſina, and obſerved, in his way through that village, that many of the ſtones of the pavement had been looſened, and were deranged by the earthquakes, particularly by that of the 18th, which attended the falling in of the crater of the volcano, and which had been ſo violent as to throw many people down, and obliged all the inhabitants of Reſina to quit their houſes haſtily, to which they did not dare return for two days. The leaves of all the vines were burnt by the aſhes that had fallen on them; and many of the vines themſelves were buried under the aſhes, and great branches of the trees that ſupported them had been torn out by their weight. In ſhort, nothing but ruin and deſolation was to be ſeen. The aſhes at