Travellers,5Portantina bearers, 8 to each chair,16Donkey drivers,2Strapmen,2Refreshment man,1Guide,1__27
The refreshment man carried the provisions, which he hoped to sell to the party by the way, in a basket poised upon his head.
The procession moved on in this order, along a rough and narrow mule path, for nearly an hour.In some parts of the way the road was pretty nearly level; in others it was extremely broken and steep, where it passed across old streams of lava. Before them the travellers could see, all the way, the immense cone, which formed the summit of the mountain, rising into the sky. They saw that they were gradually drawing nearer and nearer to the foot of it, and on looking up they could see another party, which had preceded them in making the ascent, slowly toiling their way up the rocky steep, while, at a little distance on one side, another party were seen descending by a different path, which was seen winding down circuitously at a part of the mountain where the slope was formed of sand.
At length Rollo saw at a distance before him a level place among the trees, very near the foot of the great cone. This he knew at once must be the halting place.
"Uncle George," said he, "we are coming to the end of our ride."
"Are we?" asked Mr. George.
"Yes," said Rollo. "Do you see all those mules and donkeys there, standing together among the rocks and trees? That must be the halting place at the foot of the cone."
Rollo was right. As soon as he and Josie arrived at this place, the donkey boys stopped thedonkeys, and held them by the head for the riders to dismount. The bearers of the portantinas stopped too, to change hands.
Mrs. Gray got out of her chair as soon as the men put it down, and went to Rosie's chair to ask Rosie how she had got along.
"Very well indeed," said Rosie. "I like it very much."
"Does your courage hold out to go up the cone?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"O, yes, mother," said Rosie; "and I wish you would go up too."
"No," replied Mrs. Gray; "I will go back to the Hermitage, and wait there until you come down. But you may go up if you wish, and if Mr. George is willing to take you."
Mr. George said that he should like to have Rosie go very much, and he promised to take special care of her. So the new bearers lifted her up upon their shoulders again, and the strapmen that Philippe had provided came with their straps to Rollo and Josie. Mr. George took a cane which one of the boys provided him with, and thus the party began the ascent of the cone.
THE ASCENT.THE ASCENT.
Rollo found, after a while, that he did not need the strapmen; so he let Josie have them both. Josie put his staff through the loops of the straps, and took hold of the ends of it, while the
men walked before him, and pulled him up the rocks.
Rollo kept ahead. He climbed faster than the rest of the train, but he stopped now and then on some projecting mass of lava to wait for them to come up. Next to Rollo came Josie, with the two strapmen pulling him up by their straps. Then the refreshment man, with his basket of provisions on his head. Last of all came the bearers of the portantina, with Rosie in the chair. Mr. George followed immediately after. He kept close to Rosie all the way, for he thought she would be afraid to be left alone with such wild and rough-looking men.
Indeed, she doubtless would have been afraid, for the men were rough and wild in their demeanor, as well as in their looks. They made a great deal of noise, shouting and scolding all the way. Every now and then they would stop to rest, and then they would clamor forbuono manos, sometimes begging for the money in very earnest and noisy, but suppliant tones, and sometimes demanding it in a very loud and threatening manner. Mr. George, however, paid no heed to these requests, but steadily refused to give the men any money, saying simply that Philippe would pay. At length the men, finding that Mr. George was cool and collected, and that hedid not seem to be at all intimidated by their violent and boisterous demeanor, became quiet, and performed their duty in a more steady and orderly manner.
The party went on climbing in this way for nearly an hour, and finally reached the summit.
On coming out upon the brow of the mountain, Rollo saw at a short distance before him an immense column of dense white vapor pouring up into the air. His first impulse was to run forward up the sandy slope that still remained between the place where he stood and the margin of the crater; but he checked himself, and stopped where he was, to wait for the rest of the party. As soon as the portantina bearers reached the place where he stood, they set down the chair, and immediately the whole set crowded around Mr. George, and again demandedbuono manos.
"Philippe payera," said Mr. George, pointing down the mountain to the Hermitage—"Philippe payera, là bas," which means, "Philippe will pay when you go down."
Mr. George said this in a very quiet manner, and then proceeded to help Rosie out of her chair. The guide who had come up the mountainwith them then led the way, and Mr. George, Rollo, Rosie and Josie followed, towards the crater.
And here I must stop a moment in my story to explain a little what a crater is, and how it is formed. A crater is a great circular pit or depression in the top of a volcano, formed by the sinking of the ground in that part. This sinking of the ground is caused apparently by the cooling and shrinking of the melted matter below, after a time when it has been unusually heated.
Most boys have observed an effect similar to this in casting lead. When you attempt to cast any thing of lead,—a cannon, for example, or anchor, or even a bullet,—you will observe that as the lead cools, the portion of it which comes at the top of the mould shrinks and falls in, forming a little pit or depression, which you have to fill up by pouring in a little more lead. The reason is, that lead, as well as most other melted substances, shrinks when it cools. In the case of the bullet, for instance, all the lead which forms the mass of the bullet within the mould shrinks. The effect of this would be to collapse the sides, were it not that the sides have already become solid by contact with the cold mould. But the lead at the top, having been poured in last, is still fluid; and so that settles down as the lead coolsbelow, and forms the little pit or depression, which the boy presently fills up by pouring in a little more lead.
It is much the same with a volcano. For some reason or other,—no one as yet knows what it is,—the interior of a volcano changes its temperature very much at different times. Sometimes for a period of several months, or years, it seems to be all the time growing hotter and hotter. The substances below become more and more melted, and formed into lava. The water, which is all the time filtering in through the crevices and openings, in the rocks around the sides of the mountain, is forced down under this molten mass by the immense pressure given to it by the height of the mountain. There it is turned into steam. For a time it is kept down by the vast weight of the lava which is over it, but after a time the elastic force of it gets so great that a bubble of it bursts up, and comes out at the top of the mountain in a great, thundering puff, bringing up some portion of the melted lava with it, and throwing it high into the air.
The lava thus thrown up falls down again, and when there is no wind it falls down close around the opening. Some of it fallsintothe opening, where it is melted again. The rest falls on the sides, and in process of time it begins to buildup a small hill, as it were, all around the opening, though the puffs and explosions of steam that are continually coming out keep a mouth open at the top.
Things go on in this way for some time, until at length, for some mysterious reason which nobody understands, the interior of the mountain begins to moderate its heat, and finally to grow cool—not entirely cool, but cooler than it has been. The puffs and explosions gradually cease. The lava within the bowels of the mountain shrinks as it cools. The sides of the mountain being firm and solid, do not collapse; but the top, being still more or less soft, falls in, not suddenly, but by a slow and gradual motion, corresponding with the progress of the cooling below. So slow, indeed, is this progress, that sometimes the ground continues sinking slowly in this way for several years before the crater is fully formed.
All this time, although the puffs and explosions have in a great measure ceased, the steam continues to blow out, more or less steadily, from a great many small openings, some of them in the bottom of the crater, and some, perhaps, in the sides. This steam is changed into visible vapor when it comes out where the air is cool, and the several streams, mingling together as they rise into the air, form a cloudy column, which is oftencalledsmoke. Strictly speaking, however, it is not smoke. It is almost entirely composed of steam.
After continuing in this state for some time, the interior of the mountain begins to grow hot again. Then the steam and hot lava begin to puff out at some one or other of the vents in the bottom of the crater. If the heating goes on, the lava comes out hotter and hotter from the opening, and by melting away the sides of it and blowing it out, it gradually enlarges it. The lava that is blown out, too, falls down all around the hole, and gradually builds up a mound around it, like a little dome, while the successive blasts keep the outlet open all the time at the top. This small cone, rising up gradually thus, in the bottom of the crater formed by the sinking in of the mountain before, and the chimney opening up through the centre of it, gives vent to all the steam from below, while a great many of the other orifices are stopped up by the lava which comes up out of the great opening falling into them. After a time, the lava that is thrown out spreads over the whole floor of the crater in a mass of black, corrugated slag, with the small cone rising from the centre of it, and the opening at the top glowing like the mouth of a fiery furnace, and bursting out every now and then, withexplosions of steam, and red-hot stones, and melted lava.
This was precisely the condition of Vesuvius at the time that Rollo visited it. The top of the mountain had fallen in, in two places, some time before, on account of the cooling below, and two great craters had been formed. Now, the furnace had been for some time heating up again, and in each crater a black cone, with a fiery mouth open at the apex of it, was gradually growing up, and covering the whole floor of the crater with the black and molten matter which it was ejecting.
It was to the edge of one of these craters that the party now advanced, and the engraving will give you some idea of the view which it presented.
VIEW OF THE CRATER.VIEW OF THE CRATER.
There were several persons, both ladies and gentlemen, standing on the margin of the crater when our party arrived. Mr. George led Rosie to the place, and looked down with her into the abyss. The sides of it were formed of precipitous cliffs of rocks and sand, all beautifully colored, in every shade of red and yellow, by the deposits of sulphur which had accumulated upon them from the fumes of the volcano. The floor of the crater was black as jet, being covered by the molten lava, which had gradually spread over
it. The surface of this lava lay in wave-like corrugations, like the hide of a rhinoceros, showing that it was or had been semi-fluid. In the centre rose a great, black, rounded cone, like the cupola of an immense blast furnace. This cone was about fifty feet high, and there was an opening at the top eight or ten feet in diameter, which glowed with a furious heat, and emitted quietly, but continually, a red-hot breath of sulphurous vapor.
After remaining thus quiet for a few moments, suddenly it would give a gasp, and immediately afterwards there would burst forth a thundering explosion, which seemed to come up from a great depth below, and threw into the air a shower of stones and scraps of molten lava, which, after ascending to a great height, came down again, and fell, with a dripping sound, upon and around the cone. Similar explosions occurred at intervals of a few minutes, all the time that the party remained.
Rosie was at first very much afraid of these explosions, and she wished to go back. Mr. George himself was also afraid at first to stand very near the edge of the crater; but it was not on account of the explosions, but for fear that the cliff might cave in. Indeed, the cliffs all around were cracked off, and in some places leaning over,apparently ready to fall; and even at the spot where the spectators stood looking into the crater, there was a fissure running along parallel to the cliff, some feet behind them. At first Mr. George was afraid to step over this crack.
"How do they know," said he to himself, "but that the whole mass will fall and carry them all down into the gulf below?"
He found, however, after waiting a little while, that it did not fall, and there were besides other masses a little farther along, as seen in the engraving, which had become separated entirely from the cliff behind them, leaving a chasm open two or three feet wide; and yet they did not fall. So Mr. George gradually acquired more confidence, and at length went cautiously forward, and looked over the brink.
Rosie, however, hung back. She was alarmed to see Rollo and Josie go so near.
"Come back, Josie," said she; "come back. Youmust notgo so near."
So Mr. George called the boys back, and they obeyed.
The walls of this crater were on every side almost perpendicular. As the central part had gradually sunk, the sides had caved off and fallen in, and then afterwards the lava that had been thrown up had spread over the floor, and coveredit with a bed of a half-fluid looking substance, that was as black as pitch, and which, though it was really now pretty hard, looked as if a stone thrown down upon it would sink immediately into it, out of sight.
The crater seemed to be four or five hundred feet across, and the walls of it were eighty or a hundred feet high.
After Mr. George and the children had been standing upon the brink of this abyss some time, watching the explosions, the guide who had come up with them from the Hermitage beckoned to Mr. George, and saying something at the same time in Italian, made signs as if he wished the party to go with him to some other place.
"Come, boys," said Mr. George; "he wants us to go with him."
"Where does he want us to go?" asked Rollo.
"I don't know," said Mr. George. "I cannot understand what he says; but let us go and see."
So the whole party followed the guide, Mr. George leading Rosie by the hand. The guide conducted them along a narrow path through the sand, which led away from the crater behind a hill which formed one of the sides of it at a place where it was so steep below the path down the mountain side, that Rosie was almost afraid togo. Mr. George, however, held her firmly by the hand, and he charged Rollo and Josie to follow very carefully. After going on in this way for some distance, they came to another crater very similar to the first, only the sides of it, instead of being formed, like the first, of perpendicular cliffs, consisted of steep, sloping banks of volcanic sand and gravel. There was, however, the same pitchy bed of lava spread out all over the bottom of it below, and in the centre a black cone thirty feet high, with a fiery furnace mouth at the top, glowing with heat, and throwing out continually the same thundering puffs of steam, and projecting the same masses of melted lava and hot stones into the air.
"Ah, here is another crater!" said Mr. George.
"Yes," said Rollo; "only it is smaller than the first. I like the first the best."
While they were standing on the narrow ridge which formed the brink of the crater, looking down, their guide by their side, another guide came by, conducting two young men; and they, instead of stopping on the brink, as Mr. George and his party had done, began at once to go down. There was a sort of track in the sand down the slope, and in this track the young men, half walking, half sliding, descended.
"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo, "theyare going down into the crater. Let Josie and me go too."
Mr. George saw by a glance that the descent into the crater must be safe, for the young men were led by one of the regular mountain guides; and besides, there was a track in the sand, showing that other parties had gone down before. So he said that Rollo and Josie might go.
"You may go down with this party," said Mr. George, "and then you can come up and take care of Rosie while I go down withourguide."
So Rollo and Josie followed the two young men down. Mr. George watched them from above. They went down very easily, for the sand was soft, and the track turned this way and that, so as to avoid the steepest places. The black lava covered the whole floor of the crater, and Mr. George and Rosie supposed that those who had gone down would be able only to go to the edge of it; but, to their great surprise, they found that the guide, as soon as he reached it, stepped upon it, and walked boldly out, followed by the young men and by Rollo and Josie, like a party of boys walking out upon the ice on a pond.
"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rosie, "they are walking over the lava. Why don't they sink in?"
"I cannot imagine," said Mr. George. "I supposed it was soft."
In fact, itwassoft; that is, it was soft enough to flow if it had been on a slope, but yet it was hard enough to walk upon. A current of lava, when it is coming down the mountain side, can often be walked upon while it is still in motion. Its fluidity at the best is very imperfect, and its motion is very slow. The lava which Rollo was upon in the floor of the crater, though pretty nearly cool and hard on the surface, was hot below. Rollo could see the redness of the heat in the holes and crevices. Probably, if a heavy stone were laid upon the bed of lava, it would gradually have sunk into it. And yet persons could walk over it without any difficulty.
Rollo and Josie followed the young men over the lava until they came so near the cone in the centre that if they were to advance farther they would be in danger of having the lava which was thrown up from it fall upon their heads. Here they found some boys, who belonged to the mountain, engaged in getting out small pieces of the lava, where it was hot and soft, and pressing coins into it, to sell to the people above. Rollo and Josie bought some of these specimens of the boys, and put them hot in their pockets.
While the boys were thus near the cone in thecentre of the crater, they were sometimes lost to view from Mr. George and Rosie, on account of the puffs of vapor which the wind blew over them. Rosie was very much afraid whenever this happened. She thought that Josie and Rollo were lost; but Mr. George assured her that there was no danger.
"I should think there would be a great deal of danger," said she.
"So should I," said Mr. George, "of my own judgment. But I do not go by my own judgment in such cases."
"Whose judgment do you go by?" asked Rosie.
"By the guides'," replied Mr. George. "The guides know all about the mountain. They are up here every day. They have been watching it for years, and they can tell where it is safe to go, and where it is dangerous, better than any stranger. So I give up my judgment entirely, and go altogether by theirs. You will see Rollo and Josie coming back out of the smoke pretty soon, as safe as they went in."
This prediction proved to be true. In a few minutes, on account of some change in the gusts of wind, the masses of vapor in the crater broke into openings, and rolled off towards the other side, and in the openings Rosie could see theboys coming back over the black surface of the lava, their footsteps making a curious sound upon it, as if they were walking over clinkers. Very soon they reached the side, and then came toiling up the path which ascended the slope of sand.
Rollo and Josie were both full of enthusiasm in describing what they had seen at the bottom of the crater, and near the cone, and they strongly recommended to Rosie to go down too.
"I'll go with you, Rosie," said Josie, "and show you the way."
But Rosie declined the adventure, and Mr. George told her that she did right to do so.
"Why, what is there to be afraid of?" asked Josie. "There is no danger—not the least in the world."
"True," said Mr. George; "but going into such places does not give so much pleasure to young ladies as it does to such courageous young gentlemen as you. But I wish to go down myself, and I will leave Rosie under your care here while I am gone."
Pretty near where the party stood while engaged in this conversation, several persons were gathered about what seemed to be a fire. A sort of smoke came up from the ground in the centre of the group, and by the side of it were one or two baskets containing eggs, bread, bottles of wine, andother refreshments. Mr. George led the way to this place, and then he found that what seemed to be a fire was really a jet of hot steam and sulphurous gases that was issuing from a cleft among the rocks. The place was very near the crest of the crater, and the people that stood around it were watching to see men cook in the jets of steam. There was a little level place inside the crevice, just beneath the ground, where they could put eggs and other such things, and after leaving them there a short time, they were found to be nicely cooked. As fast as they were done, the men took them out and sold them to the bystanders.
Mr. George left Rosie and the two boys here while he went down into the crater. The guide went with him to show him the way. In about ten minutes Mr. George returned, and found the three children standing round thecuisine, as the men called the place where they cooked. Rollo had been buying some of the eggs, and he and Josie and Rosie were eating them.
"Mr. George," said Josie, "are these boiled eggs, or baked eggs, or roasted eggs, or what?"
"They seem to be steamed eggs," said Mr. George.
"I suppose," said Rollo, "that by digging about here in the sand, we might find a place where it would be just warm enough tohatcheggs."
"No doubt," said Mr. George.
Just then Rollo observed that the two young men whom he and Josie had followed down into the crater were standing at a little distance, and attentively regarding some sort of instrument which they had in their hands.
"I mean to go and see what they are doing," said Rollo.
So saying, he looked into Mr. George's face, and waited to see if Mr. George had any objection to his going.
"Very well," said Mr. George.
So Rollo went off to the place where the young men were standing, and soon afterwards Mr. George and the others of the party could see that the strangers were showing him the instrument, and apparently explaining it to him. Pretty soon Rollo returned and reported that the two young men were students, and that the instrument which they had was a metallic barometer, and that they were measuring the height of the mountain with it.
This metallic barometer is quite a curious instrument. You will often read, in books, of measuring the height of a mountain, or other lofty place,by the barometer; and to most people this is quite a mystery. The explanation of it is, however, very simple. It is this: The earth is surrounded on all sides by the atmosphere, which,though very light, has a certain weight, and it presses with considerable force upon the ground, and upon every thing that is exposed to it. If, however, you go up from the ground, as, for instance, when you ascend a mountain, the higher you go, the less the pressure is. This is naturally to be expected, for the higher you go in such a case, the less air there is above you to press. Now, a barometer is an instrument to measure the pressure of the air, just as a thermometer measures the heat or coldness of it. A metallic barometer is a new kind, in which the air presses on a curiously contrived ring or band of brass, and according as it presses more or less, it moves an index like the hand of a watch, which is placed on the face of it. It was such an instrument as this that the two students had, on Vesuvius.
The way in which you use such an instrument to measure the height of a mountain is this: You look at the instrument when you are at the bottom of the mountain, before you begin your ascent, and see how it stands. There is a little index like the hour hand of a watch, which is movable. This you set at the point where the other index stands when you are at the foot of the mountain. Then you begin your ascent. You shut up your barometer if you please, and put it in your knapsack, or in the chaise box, orany where else you please. Wherever you put it, the pressure of the air will find it out, and penetrate to it, and as you gradually rise from the surface of the earth, the index, which is connected with the curious brass ring, moves slowly backward as the pressure diminishes. This motion continues as long as you continue ascending. If you come to a level place, it remains stationary as long as the level continues. If you descend, it goes forward a little, and then begins to go back again as soon as you once more begin to ascend. Then, when you get to the top of the mountain, you look at it, and you see at once how much the pressure of the air has diminished. From this, by an easy calculation, you tell at once how high you have come.
Mr. George knew all about the barometer, and the means of measuring heights with it, though he had never seen an instrument of this particular kind. He was accordingly very much interested in Rollo's account of it, and he said he had a great mind to go and see it himself.
"I wish you would," said Rollo. "I told them that I thought you would like to see it, and they said that they should be very happy to show it to you."
Mr. George accordingly went to see the instrument, and the students gave him so cordial areception, that he formed at once quite an intimate acquaintance with them. Indeed they were quite pleased to find a person on the mountain who sympathized with them in their scientific inquiries and pursuits, and was capable of understanding and appreciating them. They told Mr. George that they were going to remain on the mountain until after dark, in order to see it in its night aspects, and they invited him to remain with them.
"Then to-morrow," said they, "we are going across the mountain down through the back ravines, to study the geological structure of the old lava beds, and so come out at Pompeii."
Mr. George said there could be nothing that he should enjoy more, were it not that he had ladies under his charge, and that he felt bound to accompany them back to Naples.
Rollo, when he heard this invitation, immediately felt a strong desire that Mr. George should go, and that he might go too. He instantly perceived, however, that this was out of the question; but he thought that by cordially falling in with the plan of allowing Mr. George to go, he might, perhaps, be the means of accomplishing it. Many boys, in such a case, when they find that a plan of enjoyment that is proposed is one which they cannot themselves share, do all theycan to hinder and oppose it altogether. But Rollo had now travelled about the world so much, and had acquired so much experience, that he was above such folly as this.
"Uncle George," said he, "you can go just as well as not. I can take care of Rosie down the mountain to the Hermitage, and then we shall have nothing to do but to get into the carriage and ride home."
Mr. George saw at once how generous it was in Rollo to make this offer, and he said he would so far accept it as to let Rollo take charge of the party going home from the Hermitage in the carriage; but he felt bound, he said, not to leave Rosie until he had returned her safe to her mother's hands. So he said to the students,—
"I will go down the cone with Rosie and the two boys, and accompany them as far as the Hermitage. There I shall find Mrs. Gray and the carriage. If Mrs. Gray seems cordially willing to go home with the children alone, I will come back here and join you; but if I find she does not seem entirely willing,—if she looks sober about it,—then I will go back to Naples; though in that case I shall come to Pompeii to-morrow, and shall hope to meet you there."
"I hope the lady will be willing to release you," said one of the students.
COMING DOWN.COMING DOWN.
"I have but little doubt that she will," said Mr. George.
Accordingly, after rambling about on the margin of the crater a little time longer, and gathering all the specimens which they required, Mr. George and the children commenced their descent. One of the students went down with them, in order to accompany Mr. George back. The descent was very easy, for the path led down a slope, where, instead of being rocky as it was where they came up, there was little else but loose sand, so that at every step they took they slid down a great way, and thus went, very fast and very easily, from the top to the bottom.
When they reached the foot of the slope, they found the mules and donkeys there. Rollo and Josie insisted that Mr. George and the student should ride, because they had got to ascend the cone again.
"Besides," said Rollo, "if you ride you can get there quicker, and arrange the business with Mrs. Gray."
Mr. George was right in anticipating that Mrs. Gray would give her cordial consent to have him leave the party.
"I shall miss your company," said she, "but I feel perfectly safe in going home in the carriage with Philippe and the boys. Besides, I shallwant to hear an account of your adventures on the mountain in the night, and in crossing over by the ravines to-morrow. And then if you are willing," she added, "we will all come and meet you at Pompeii to-morrow."
"I should like that very much indeed," said Mr. George. "Philippe will arrange every thing for you."
This being all settled, Mrs. Gray and the children entered the carriage and set out for Naples, while Mr. George and the student turned their faces towards the mountain again.
On the evening of the day on which the excursion to Vesuvius was made, Rollo came into Mrs. Gray's room, wearing a somewhat disturbed countenance. He told Mrs. Gray that he had got some bad news for her.
"Ah," said Mrs. Gray, "I'm sorry to hear that. What is the bad news?"
"Philippe is engaged for to-morrow," said Rollo, "and so he cannot go with us to Pompeii."
"O, how sorry I am!" said Josie. "What shall we do?"
"How is he engaged?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"He is going with a party to Baiæ."
"Where is Baiæ?" asked Josie. "Is it any where near Pompeii?"
"No," said Rollo; "it is exactly in the opposite direction. It is on the sea coast to the west, and Pompeii is on the sea coast to the east."
"What is there to be seen at Baiæ?" asked Mrs. Gray.
"Nothing but old ruins," said Rollo, contemptuously. "I don't see why people should want to go so far, and take away our guide, just to see old ruins. Besides, there are plenty of old ruins at Pompeii.
"But, Mrs. Gray," continued Rollo, "I don't think we need any guide at all to go to Pompeii. We can go by ourselves."
"Do you think so?" said Mrs. Gray.
"Why, you see I can engage a carriage to take us there myself," said Rollo. "I shall say 'Pompeii!' to the coachman, and point that way. And when we get to Pompeii, we shall find uncle George there, and then we shall get along well enough."
"True," said Mrs. Gray. "But then," she added, after thinking a moment, "perhaps we might miss Mr. George, after all. I don't know how large a place it is. If it is a large place, we might miss him in some of the streets."
Here Rosie opened a guide book which lay upon the table, and turned to a map of Pompeii which she recollected to have seen there. Her hope was to find that there were not many streets, and thus to show that there would not be much danger of missing Mr. George. She found, however, that the plan of the town looked quite complicated. There was a long street, called theStreet of the Tombs, leading into it; and then within the walls there were a great many other streets, crossing each other, and running in all directions. So she shut the book, and did not say a word, thinking that the sight of the plan would impede, rather than promote, the acceptance of Rollo's proposal.
"I don't think there are a great many streets," said Rollo. "There were none at all at Herculaneum."
"Ah, but Herculaneum is a very different thing," said Mrs. Gray. "Herculaneum was buried up very deep with solid lava, and only a very small portion of it has been explored, and that you go down into as you would into a cellar or a mine. Pompeii was but just covered, and that only with sand and ashes; and the sand and ashes have all been dug out and carted off from a large part of the city, so as to bring the whole out in the open day."
"Then it will be a great deal pleasanter place to visit," said Rosie.
"Yes," said Mrs. Gray; "and I don't think that there will be much danger in our going by ourselves. If we don't find Mr. George, we can walk about a while, and then come back in the carriage again."
"We might go by the railroad if we chose,"said Rollo. "There is a railroad that runs along the coast, and passes very near Pompeii."
"I think we had better take a carriage," said Mrs. Gray, "because a carriage will take us and leave us wherever we wish. There will be more changes if we go by the railroad, and we should need to speak more."
It was finally agreed that the party should go, and Rollo and Josie were to have a carriage ready at nine o'clock the next morning. They were all to breakfast at eight o'clock.
Now it happens there is no difficulty in getting a carriage at Naples. The streets are full of them. They are very pretty carriages too, as they are seen standing in pleasant weather, with the tops turned back, showing the soft cushions on the seats that look so inviting. The coachmen who drive these carriages are very eager to get customers. They watch at the doors of the hotels, and every where, indeed, along the streets, and whenever they see a lady and gentleman coming, they drive forward to meet them, and call out to offer them the carriage; and sometimes they go along for some distance by the side of the strangers, trying to induce them to get in.
Some of these carriages have two horses, and contain a front and a back seat. Others have only one horse, and only a back seat; but theyall look very nice and tidy, and the price to be paid for them is quite low.
The party all breakfasted together the next morning, and they went down into the dining room for their breakfast, instead of taking it in Mrs. Gray's room. They did this at the request of the boys, who said it was more amusing to go into the public room and see the different parties that came in for early breakfasts, and hear them talk, in various languages, of the different excursions that they are going to make that day.
At about a quarter before nine, Rollo and Josie went out to look for a carriage. Rollo stopped at the office of the hotel in going out, and inquired of the secretary how much ought to be paid for a carriage with two horses to go to Pompeii. The secretary told him three dollars.
He and Josie then went out into the street. There was a long row of carriages, some with two horses and some with one, standing in the middle of the street opposite to the hotel. The coachmen of all these carriages, as soon as they saw the boys come out, began immediately to call out to them, and crack their whips, and make other such demonstrations to attract their attention.
"Now," said Rollo to Josie, "we must walk along carelessly, and not appear to look at thecarriages as if we wanted one; for if we do, they will come driving towards us in a body. We will walk along quietly till we come to a nice carriage and a first rate pair of horses, and then we'll go right up to the coachman and engage him."
This the boys did. They sauntered along with a careless air, concealing the desire they had to engage a carriage, until at last they came to one which Rollo thought would do. The instant the boys stopped before this carriage, the coachman jumped down from his box, and began to open the carriage door for them, and at the same time all the other coachmen in the line began cracking their whips, and calling out to the boys again to come and take their carriages. Rollo paid no attention to them, but addressed the coachman of the carriage which he had selected, and said in French, "To Pompeii."
"Si, signore, si, signore," said the coachman, which Rollo knew very well meant "Yes, sir, yes, sir." At the same time the coachman made eager gestures for the boys to get in.
But Rollo would not get in, but waited to make his bargain about the price.
"Quanto?" said he. Quanto is the Italian word forhow much. In sayingQuanto, Rollo held up the fingers of his right hand, to denote tothe coachman that he was to show him by his fingers how many piastres.
The coachman said four, speaking in Italian, and at the same time held up four fingers.
"No," said Rollo, "three." And Rollo held up three fingers.
The coachman seemed to hesitate a moment; but when he saw that the boys were ready to go away and apply for another carriage unless he would take them for the regular and proper price, he said, "Si, signore," again, and once more motioned for the boys to get in. So they got in, and the coachman drove to the hotel door.
Mrs. Gray and Rosie were all ready, and when they came to see the carriage which the boys had chosen for them, they were very much pleased with it.
"I don't see but that you can manage the business, Rollo," said Mrs. Gray, "as well as any courier or valet de place that we could have."
"How could you make him understand what you wanted, without speaking Italian?" asked Rosie.
"I did it partly by signs," said Rollo.
The road to Pompeii, for the first few miles, was the same with the one to Vesuvius, which they had taken the day before. It led first through the busiest part of Naples, along by thedocks and the shipping, and then through the series of towns and villages which line the shore of the bay, at the foot of the slopes of Vesuvius. After passing in this manner through one continued street for five or six miles, the road came out more into the open country, where fine views were had of the mountain on one side, and of the bay on the other. The mountain sides were generally extremely fertile, being covered with vineyards and groves, though here and there were to be seen the streams of lava which had come down within a few hundred years, and which had not yet become disintegrated and converted into soil. These streams of lava looked like torrents of brown water suddenly turned into stone, as they came streaming down the mountain side.
In one place, one of these streams of lava passed under a town. That is to say, such was the appearance. The fact was, really, that the lava had destroyed the part of the town that came in its way, and the people had built up their houses again on the top of it. The lava was cut down a little in making the road, so that you could see at the road side a portion of the stream, with the houses upon it.
After riding on in this way two or three hours, the carriage stopped at a very pleasant place,among vineyards and mulberry groves, at the entrance of a pretty lane, which led to the gates of Pompeii.
"Now," said Rosie, "our difficulties are going to begin. I don't see how we are going to know where to look for Mr. George."
"We will see," said Mrs. Gray.
The coachman opened the door, and all the party got out. Just then they saw at a short distance before them, where there was a sort of gate, several men in a species of uniform, which denoted that they were the persons appointed by the government to take charge of the place, and to show it to visitors. One of these men, as soon as he saw the party, seemed to look very much pleased, and he advanced to meet them with a smiling face. At the same time he said something to a boy who was near by, and the boy ran off into the town. The young man in uniform, when he came near to Mrs. Gray, said something which at first she could not understand, but which she soon perceived was an attempt to pronounce the words,Il Signore Holiday.
"Ah! he has seen Mr. George," said Mrs. Gray. "Mr. George has been here, and has told him to watch for us."
This supposition on the part of Mrs. Gray was correct. Mr. George had come early with thestudents to Pompeii, in order to be ready there to receive Mrs. Gray and her party, and he had stationed this man at the gate to watch for them, with directions to send the boy in for him at an appointed place, as soon as they should arrive. The boy soon found Mr. George, and he came immediately back to the gate. Of course the whole party were very much pleased to see him.
"And yet," said Mrs. Gray, "Rollo has managed so well that I should not have felt any anxiety if we had continued under his sole charge all day."
The party now commenced their exploration of Pompeii. They found it, as they had expected, all open to the day. A great many of the streets, with all the houses bordering them, had been cleared, and all the sand and gravel under which they had been buried had been carted away. Immense heaps of this rubbish were lying outside the entrance, and the party had passed them in the carriage on their approach to the town. They had been lying there so long, however, that they were covered with grass and small trees, and they looked like great railroad embankments.
Indeed, the appearance which Pompeii presents now is that of a large open village of ruined androofless one-storied houses. Many of the houses were originally two stories high, it is true; but the upper stories have been destroyed or shaken down, and in general it is the lower story only that now remains.
The structure of the houses, in respect to plan and general arrangement, is very different from that of the dwellings built in our towns at the present day. The chief reasons for the difference arise from the absence of windows and chimneys in the houses of the ancients, and of course the leaving out of windows and chimneys in a house makes it necessary to change every thing.
The inhabitants of Pompeii had no chimneys, because the climate there is so mild that they seldom needed a fire; and when they did need one, it was easier to make a small one in an open vessel, and let it stand in the middle of the room, or wherever it was required, than to make a chimney and a fireplace. The open pan in which the fires were made in those days stood on legs, and could be moved about any where. The fire was made of small twigs cut from the trees. The people would let the pan stand in the open air until the twigs were burnt to coal, and then they would carry the pan, with the embers still glowing, into the room which they wishedto warm, and place it wherever it was required.
The same contrivance is used at the present day in Naples, and in all the towns of that region. In going along the streets in a cool evening or morning, you will often see one of these brass pans before a door, with a little fire blazing in it, and children or other persons before it, warming their hands. Afterwards, if you watch, you will see that the people take it into the house.
The ancient inhabitants of Pompeii depended entirely on arrangements like these for warming their rooms. There is not a chimney to be found in the whole town.
In respect to windows, the reason why they did not have them was because they had no glass to put into them. They could not make glass in those days well enough and easily enough to use it for windows. Of course they had openings in their houses to admit the air and the light, and these openings might perhaps be called windows. But in order to prevent the wind and rain from coming in, it was necessary to have them placed in sheltered situations, as, for example, under porticos and piazzas. The custom therefore arose of having a great many porticos in the houses, with rooms opening from them;and in order that they might not be too much exposed, they were generally made so as to have the open side of them inwards, towards the centre of the house, where a small, square place was left, without a roof over it, to admit the light and air.
Of course the rain would come in through this open space, and the floor of it was generally formed into a square marble basin, to receive the water. This was called theimpluvium. Sometimes there was a fountain in the centre of the impluvium, and all around it were the porticos, within and under which were the doors opening into the different rooms.
The guide, who conducted Mr. George and his party, led them into several of these houses, and every one was much interested in examining the arrangement of the rooms, and in imagining how the people looked in going in and out, and in living in them. The bed rooms were extremely small. The walls of some of them were beautifully painted, but the rooms themselves were often not much bigger than a state room in a steamship. The bedstead was a sort of berth, formed upon a marble shelf built across from wall to wall.
In some of the houses there were more rooms than could be arranged around one court; and in such cases there were two, and sometimes threecourts. In one case, the third court was a garden, with a beautiful portico formed of ornamental columns all around it. Beneath this portico the ladies of the house, in rainy weather, could walk at their ease, and see the flowers growing in the garden, just as well as if the weather were fair.
Under this portico, all around, was a subterranean chamber, which seemed to be used as a sort of cellar. And yet it was very neatly finished, and the walls of it were ornamented in such a way as to lead people to suppose that it might have been used as a cool walk in warm weather. This passage way was first discovered by means of the steps leading down to it. It was almost full of earth, which earth consisted of volcanic sand and ashes, which had flowed into it in the form of mud.
On one side of this subterranean passage way, near the entrance, there were a number of skeletons found. These skeletons were in a standing position against the wall, where the persons had been stopped and buried up by the mud as it flowed in. The marks left by the bodies against the wall remain to this day, and Rollo and all the party saw them.
One of the skeletons was that of a female, and there were a great many rings on the fingers of the hands, and bracelets, necklaces, and otherornaments on the other bones. From this circumstance it is supposed that this person was the wife of the owner of the house, and that in trying to save herself and her jewelry upon her, she had fled with the servants to this cellar, and there had been overwhelmed.
There were very few skeletons found in the houses of Pompeii; from which circumstance it is supposed that the inhabitants generally had time to escape. There was, however, one remarkable case. It was that of a sentinel in his sentry box, at the gate of the city. He would not leave his post, as it would seem, and so perished at the station where he had been placed. His head, with the helmet still upon it, was carried to the museum at Naples, where it is now seen by all the world, and every one who sees it utters some expression of praise for the courage and fidelity which the poor fellow displayed in fulfilling his trust.
The streets of the town were narrow, but they were paved substantially with large and solid stones, flat at the top. Along these streets there were a great many very curious shops, such as barbers' shops, painters' shops, wine shops, and the like. The wine shops were furnished with deep jars set in a sort of stone counter. The jars were open-mouthed, and the men who keptthe shops were accustomed apparently to dip the wine out of them, in selling to their customers.
After passing through a number of these streets, the party came at length to a great public square called theForum. This square was surrounded with the ruins of temples, and other great public edifices. The columns and porticos which bordered the square are all now more or less in ruins; but there are still so many of them standing as to show exactly what the forms of the buildings must have been when they were complete, and how the square must have appeared.
In another part of the town were the remains of two theatres, and outside the walls an immense amphitheatre, where were exhibited the combats of wild beasts, and those of the gladiators. There are a great many ruins of amphitheatres like this scattered over Italy. They are of an oval form, and the seats extend all around. The place where the combats took place was a level spot in the centre, called thearena.
In viewing these various ruins, Mr. George and the two students seemed most interested in the theatres, and temples, and other great public edifices, while Mrs. Gray and the children seemed to think a great deal more of the houses and the shops. There was one baker's shop with theoven entire, and three stone hand mills, in which the baker used to grind his corn. There were a great many curious utensils and implements found in this shop, when it was first excavated; but Mr. George said that they had all been removed.
"I wish they had let them stay here," said Rollo.
"It would be a great deal more interesting to us to see them here," said Mr. George, "but they would not have been safe. The government has therefore built an immense museum at Naples, and every thing that is movable has been carried there. So we come here first to see the town and the remains of the shops and the houses, and then afterwards we go to the museum at Naples to see the things that were found in them."
After rambling about in Pompeii for several hours, the party went out by another gate, where they found the carriage waiting for them, and so returned home.
The great museum at Naples is one of the most wonderful collections of curiosities in the world. It is contained in an immense building, which is divided into numerous galleries and halls, each of which is devoted to some special department of art.
It was the plan of our party to go and see the museum on the day after their visit to Pompeii,—or rather to begin to see it; for it requires a great deal more than one day even to walk cursorily through the rooms.
On the morning of the day in question, Mrs. Gray said to Mr. George, at breakfast, that she had a plan to propose.
"What is it?" asked Mr. George.
"I am afraid that you will not think it very polite in me to propose it," said Mrs. Gray, "but it is this: that when we get into the museum, we should divide into two parties. Let Rollo go with me and the children, while you join yourfriends the students, and accompany them. Then we can go through the rooms in our way, and you can go in yours."
Mr. George hesitated. For a moment he seemed not to know what to reply to this proposal.
"The reason is," said Mrs. Gray, "that the objects which you and the students will have in view in the visit, may very likely be different from ours. You will want to study the antiquities, and the old Latin and Greek inscriptions, and the monuments illustrating ancient history; but we should not understand such things. We shall be interested in the paintings, and the rings, and jewels, and ornaments found in Pompeii, and in the household implements and utensils."
"But we shall want to see all those things, too," said Mr. George.
"True," replied Mrs. Gray; "but you will not wish to devote so great a portion of time to them. You will wish to devote most of your time to the learned things, and will pass rapidly over the pretty things and the curious things, while with us it will be just the other way."
"Yes, uncle George," said Rollo, "that will be the best plan. Josie and I can take care of Mrs. Gray, and you can go where you please."
Mr. George seemed at first quite unwilling toaccept this proposal. He said he would go with Mrs. Gray to any part of the museum that she pleased, and remain there with her as long as she desired; and that, far from being any inconvenience to him to do so, it would be a pleasure. But Mrs. Gray said that it was on her account more than on his, that she made the proposal.
"Because," said she, "if you are with us I shall be thinking all the time that perhaps it would be better for you to be somewhere else; whereas, with Rollo and the children, I can stroll about wherever I please."
In this view of the case, Mr. George consented to her proposal. Accordingly, after breakfast, he left Rollo to engage a carriage and take Mrs. Gray and the others to the museum, while he went to find his two friends, the students, at another hotel, where they were lodging. They were all to meet in the hall of the museum at ten o'clock.
At half past nine Rollo had a nice carriage at the door. Josie sat in the carriage while Rollo went up to Mrs. Gray's room to tell her that it was ready. Rosie, who was still far from being strong, leaned on Rollo's arm coming down stairs.
"I am very glad that you are going to have the care of us to-day, instead of Mr. George," said she.
"So am I," said Rollo. "I am very glad indeed."
"I don't care any thing at all about his old learned inscriptions," said Rosie.
"Nor do I much," said Rollo. "Still they are very curious, when once we understand them."
"Perhaps they may be," said Rosie, "but I don't care about them. What I want is, to see the pretty things."
"Yes," said Rollo, "and I will show you all the pretty things I can find."
Rollo assisted the two ladies into the carriage, and then, after getting in himself, he ordered the coachman to drive to the museum. The way lay first through one or two open squares, bordered with churches, porticos, and palaces, and then through a long, straight street, called theToledo. This is the principal street of shops in Naples, and is said to be the most populous and crowded street in Europe. It was so thronged with people every where, in the middle of the street as well as upon the sidewalks, that the carriage could scarcely pass along.
At length, however, it arrived at the museum. There was a spacious stone platform before the building, with a broad flight of stone steps ascending to it. Rollo assisted his party to descend from the carriage, and then he stopped topay the coachman, while they went up the steps. Rollo joined them on the platform.
The doors of the museum building, which were immensely large, were open, but they were guarded by a soldier, who walked back and forth before the entrance, carrying his gun with the bayonet set. Rollo paid no attention to him, but walked directly in. Josie walked by his side, and Mrs. Gray and Rosie followed them.
"Now," said Rollo, "we must wait here until uncle George comes."
The hall into which they had entered was very large and very lofty, and the columns and staircases that were to be seen here and there adorning it were very grand. On different sides were various passages, with doors leading to the several apartments and ranges of apartments of the museum. These doors were all open, but the entrance to each was closed by an iron gate, and each gate had a man standing near it to guard it. Over each of these doors was an inscription containing the name of the particular department of the museum to which it led.
By the side of the great door of entrance was a small room in a corner, kept by two men in uniform. This was the place for the visitors to deposit their canes and umbrellas in. It is not safe to allow people in general to take suchthings into cabinets of curiosities, for there are many who have so little discretion, that, in pointing to the objects around them, they would often touch them with the iron end of the umbrella or the cane, and so scratch or otherwise injure them.
Rollo took Mrs. Gray's parasol from her hand and gave it to one of the men. The man put a strap around it. The strap had a ticket with the number 49 upon it. He gave another ticket, also marked 49, to Rollo, and Rollo put it in his pocket.
At this moment Rollo saw Mr. George and the two students coming in at the door. The three gentlemen deposited their canes at the little office just as Mrs. Gray had done with her parasol, and then the whole party advanced into the great hall.
Mr. George and the students went with Mrs. Gray and the children into the first room, but they soon left them, and after that Rollo was the sole guide.
Each department of the museum was contained in a separate suit of apartments, at the entrance to which, as I have already said, there was a small iron gate across the doorway. This little gate was kept shut and locked; but there was a man who stood by it, inside, always ready to openit whenever he saw any visitors coming. He always shut and locked the door again when the visitors went in. Then, finally, when they were ready to come out, he unlocked the gate for them, and it was then that they were expected to pay the fee for visiting that part of the museum. Rollo had taken care to inquire about this beforehand, and he had provided himself with a sufficient number of pieces of money of the right value, so as not to have any trouble in making change.
In most of the rooms there were men who had pictures for sale, illustrating the objects contained there, for visitors to buy, in order to carry them home as souvenirs of their visit, and to show to their friends at home. Mrs. Gray bought quite a number of these pictures, and Rollo himself bought several.
The rooms that interested the young persons most were those which contained the tools and household implements, and the various utensils found at Pompeii. In general these things were much more similar to the corresponding articles of the present day than one would have expected to find. But yet there were many differences, both of form and structure, which made them extremely curious to see.
For instance, there was abellfound in one ofthe houses; but instead of being hollow, and having a clapper inside, as is the custom at the present day, it consisted simply of a large, flat ring, like a plate, with a hole through the centre of it. This ring was hung up by means of a short chain, and by the side of it there was hung a sort of hammer. To ring the bell it was necessary to strike it with this hammer. An attendant in the room did this while Mrs. Gray and Rollo were there, to let them hear how the bell sounded.
"It sounds very well indeed," said Rollo.
"Yes," replied Rosie; "but I don't think it is quite so musical as one of our bells."
There were several pairs of steelyards in the room, too, which were very much like the steelyards of the present day, only they were made of a more ornamental form. The weights were quite pretty little pieces of sculpture and statuary.
There were some very curious and pretty little cooking fireplaces, one of which, in particular, the young people admired very much indeed. Rosie said that she should have liked it very much herself, when she was a child, to play with. In the centre was a sort of pan for the coals, or embers, and all around was a raised border, made double, with a space between to containwater. In one corner there was a raised part, with an opening to pour in the water, and in front, below, there was a small faucet for the purpose of drawing the water out. Of course the embers or coals in the centre of the pan kept the water in the reservoir around it always warm.
There was also a little place on one side where a kettle or a saucepan could stand on two supports, with an opening below to put the coals under.
A great many of the floors in Pompeii were found to be in mosaic; that is, they were formed of various colored stones, arranged together in a sort of bed of cement, in such a manner as to show a picture, or some other ornamental design. In many cases there were only two kinds of stones used, black and white; and these were arranged so as to form borders, scrolls, and pattern work,—as it is called,—of various kinds. In some places a border was formed around the room, and the figure of some animal was placed in the centre. In other cases groups of animals, or of men, were represented, in a very perfect manner. It has always been considered wonderful that such spirited and beautiful designs could be so well represented by a method apparently so rude as the arrangement on a floor of bits of different colored stones.
The best of these mosaics were taken up and removed to the museum. You would think at first that it would be impossible to remove them in any other way than by taking them all to pieces and putting them together again, each little stone in its proper place, on the floor of the museum, where the mosaic was intended to go. But the artists contrived a way to take them up without all this labor, and thus several of the best ones have been removed without disturbing the arrangement of the stones, and have been laid down on the floors of the museum.