Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIV. I am Appointed Consul-General to India—Assassination of Garfield—Departure for India—My Stay in Chicago and Washington—Paris and Versailles—Rome—Naples—Pompeii—From Naples to Alexandria—Interesting Acquaintances on the Voyage—The First Impressions in Egypt
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IS 163.2 Story of an Emigrant.
of an amphitheatre, with a steep decline toward the water*
In the south we sec the island of Capri, fifteen miles distant,
and on the east coast the volcano Vesuvius, which, by its
threatening clouds of smoke, seems to obscure the eastern
part of beautiful Naples, although it lies fourteen miles
distant from the city. Long before the time of Christ the bay
looked about the same as it does now. The chief cities
around it at that time were Naples, Herculaneum and
Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius, however, did not look as it does
now, but rose as a green hill, called "La Somma," and
served as a summer resort for many wealthy Roman
patricians. The city of Pompeii had about forty thousand
inhabitants. On August 23, A. D. 79, terrific rumblings
were heard from the interior of La Somma, the summit of
which suddenly burst open, and a pillar of ashes, steam, and
red-hot rocks shot up through the opening to a great height,
and fell, scattering itself over the surrounding country, while
streams of melted lava rolled down the hill-sides and buried
Herculaneum and everything in it under a layer of ashes and
lava to the depth of eighty feet. Toward night the
eruptions increased in force, and before morning Pompeii and
some smaller towns were also buried under the
glowingriv-ers of volcanic rocks, ashes and mud.
The remarkable history of this place absorbed my mind as
I passed through the two thousand years-old streets of
Pompeii, which, in the course of this century have again
been brought to light by the removal of the petrified ashes
and other volcanic matter. The ancient eitv now looks a
good deal as it did eighteen hundred years ago. It is
situated 011 a round knoll, and measures three miles in
circumference. The houses are built of stone, and only one story
high, with roofs of brick and floors of cut stone, just as the
modern houses in that vicinity are built to-day. Every
house has an open court in the center, and all aisles and
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