Page:Awful phenomena of nature -- burning mountains.pdf/7

 you, of the awfully grand eruption of Vesuvius. Nothing similar has been witnessed since 1794, when the town of Torre del Greco, situated at about four miles from the crater, was partly destroyed. During the evening of the 21st, a little smoke appeared, and distinct reports of artillery, as it seemed, proceeded from that part of the bay. Had the sky not been perfectly serene, one would have considered it to be thunder. Towards nine o’clock, however, a little fire appeared at the old crater, and left us no longer in doubt about the cause of the intonations. At a few minutes past Eleven, it burst forth in all its fury, throwing out stones to a great height. In three hours afterwards, the lava rolled forth in two grand streams, one taking towards Resina, where the king’s villa, called La Favorita, is situated, and the other inclining in a more southerly direction to Torre del Annunziata. The torrent of lava which flows towards Resina has already covered 100 acres of ground. The showers of ashes darken the sky, and fall even in the streets of the capital. The stones which have fallen at Bosco-Tre-Case have accumulated to the height of five palms. The eruption of stones are frequent, and the sounds which issue from the mountain are frightful. All the people who lived near the volcano