Page:Description of Mount Vesuvius with an account of its various eruptions.pdf/10



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so as to have given a great extension to the mouth of Vesuvius, which was conjectured to                 be nearly two miles in circumference. This sinking of the crater was chiefly on the west side, opposite Naples, and, in all probability, occurred early in the morning of the 18th, when a violent shock of an earthquake was felt at Resina, and other places situated at                 the foot of the volcano. The clouds of smoke which issued from this now widely-extended mouth of Vesuvius were of such a density as                 to appear to force their passage with the ut- most difficulty. One cloud leaped itself on                 another, and succeeding each other incessant- ly, they formed in a few hours such a gigantic and elevated column, of the darkest hue, over the mountain, as seemed to threaten Naples with immediate destruction, it having at one time been bent over the city, and appearing to be much too massive and ponderous to re- main long suspended in the air. From the above time until 1804, Vesuvius remained in a state of almost constant tran- quillity. Symptoms of a fresh eruption had manifested themselves for several months, when at length, on the night of the 17th of                 August, a deep roaring was hard at the Her- mitage of Salvador, and the places adjacent to the mountain, accompanied by shocks of                 an earthquake which were sensibly felt at                  Resina,  On the following morning, at noon,