DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1082#0098
62 POMPEIANA.
of which seemed sunk to the bowels of
the earth ; the top surrounded by a vast
bank of calcined stones, the sloping sides
clothed with all sorts of trees *, amongst
which wild animals sought shelter; for
wherever the sun could penetrate, vege-
tation to a certain extent existed, except
on one side, which was perpendicular and
bare. By a winding way he descended,
he thinks, nearly a mile: until the pre-
cipitous nature of the place and obscurity
rendered further progress extremely ha-
zardous : huge masses of volcanic matter
and disrupted rock, obstructed in their
descent by large trees2 torn up by their
roots, contracted the space below; but
within he observed no signs of the volcano
1 The space or winding valley between the two summits,
called the Atrio di Cavallo, also afforded pasture, and in it
were pools of water : it is now a scene of perfect desolation.
2 These rather countenance the account of the eruption
of 1500. It was perhaps slight.
of which seemed sunk to the bowels of
the earth ; the top surrounded by a vast
bank of calcined stones, the sloping sides
clothed with all sorts of trees *, amongst
which wild animals sought shelter; for
wherever the sun could penetrate, vege-
tation to a certain extent existed, except
on one side, which was perpendicular and
bare. By a winding way he descended,
he thinks, nearly a mile: until the pre-
cipitous nature of the place and obscurity
rendered further progress extremely ha-
zardous : huge masses of volcanic matter
and disrupted rock, obstructed in their
descent by large trees2 torn up by their
roots, contracted the space below; but
within he observed no signs of the volcano
1 The space or winding valley between the two summits,
called the Atrio di Cavallo, also afforded pasture, and in it
were pools of water : it is now a scene of perfect desolation.
2 These rather countenance the account of the eruption
of 1500. It was perhaps slight.