BILL NYE ON VESUVIUS

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1588, 17 August 1885, Page 2

BILL NYE ON VESUVIUS

Tbe study of the habits and temperament of the volcano at a distance of al>out 10,000 miles is one that has always afforded me much pleasure. In watching and noting the peculiar phenomena of the eruptions I have almost lost sight of its attendant dangers. A volcano is always feverish and restless till after the eruption, then it I feels better. The first symptoms of ' an eruption are cold feet, bad dreams, | bad breath, arid dark circles round the crater. This will I* followed by an uncomfortable feeling in tbe bowels of the eartb aud a fluttering pulse. Tbe volcano is then alxrot to erupt, and those who live near there bad better sell out at a sacrifice. One thousand eight hundred and eighty-four years ago tbe Roman geographer and weather-crank, Strata, spoke of Vesuvius as a burnt mountain ; but it bad not at that time turned itself wrong side out. Quite a forest grew where its crater now stands. For fifty years Vesuvius bad bilious spells, but kept on drawing its salary withont loss of time, but in 79 A.D. it turned itself loose and tore op the ground a good deal. Real estate watatok to an astonishing height, but becamn depressed at once. The sooth half of the mountain was jerked loose, as Pliny has it, and knocked galley-west. This was followed l>y a sbower of hot, wet ashes, which completely obliterated Pompeii and Herculanenrtfc^Chose towns have been exhumed lAk 4f|feiL .. . owing to the criminal delay oi^Ufcfc * authorities in doiug so, no lives were saved. These cities are not covered with lava, Scientists say that the rnns were found under a deep layer of volcanic tufa. Ido not know what tufa is, but presume the term is perfectly proper aud safe to use in good society. I have beard of a tufa cigar, which is sold at the of tufa five cents, bat I am comparatively ignorant of the general appearance of volcanic tufa. This is a joke that 1 thought of myself Times are so close this winter that lam obliged to originate a good many of my own j<>kcs, and to write my own autographs. My amanuensis, wao has stood by me so long and aided

me so well, baa been discharged. Autograph-hunters will notice that my autographs are not so good as w!v j n I had my ama-ioenais. For neirly 1,000 years Vesuvius then remained in a comatose state, with only hn occasional eruption. Then 1538, on the shores of the Gnif of Bairo, in the Bay of Naples, a new and attractive crater was opened. It was a good, easy-running crater, and the lava was hot when it came ont. Hot lava U not good for food. It har dens in the stomach, and taints the breath with the odor of sulphur. In 1631 Vesuvius itsulf again became intensely irritable, and showed signs of a morbid desire to erupt. During the 1.500 years of quiet the crater had beon covered over with forests infested by the wild boar of Italy and the tame bore of England. The slopes of the mountain were cultivated up to the foot of the cone, aiH. Sunday-school picnics swarmed over the greenswards Hi its base. . Suddenly, in the latter part of December, Vesuvius rose on its hind feet aud painted Rome red. All Southern Europe and a part of York State were covered with ashes and debris fiom the internal economy of the volcano. Many people were killed who had never previously lost their lives. The way Vesuvius slung hot mud at the Neapolitan hordes that full was a solemn warning to the punny pushers at putrid politics in the land of the free and the home of the brave The beautiful cities of Resini and Postici were entirely destroyed, and those of Torre del Greco and Torre dell' Annnnziata would have perished if they had not spread the names of the towns over themselves and escaped. A good long name in Italy is rather to be chosen than great riches. About every ten years since the above date, Vesuvius had been liable to jar the country and shake down a few towns, covering the people with « nff that is entirely useless. The •eruptiou of Vesuvius is a fine sight at night. No douU that there will always be more less apprehension on the part of speculators until some American " rustler " puts a damper in the crater of Vesuvius, so he can regulate the eruption. At present those spasms are too irreguhr and , too vehement.-—' Ingleside.'