A new crater

appears.

The first

act of the drama.

cance of that glorious red did not impress itself on us until the morning of April 5, when a new crater was opened up east of the terminal station of the funicular railway and began spitting fine ashes over Naples, while a great stream of lava descended, threatening Boscotrecase, a little town of five thousand or six thousand inhabitants midway between Pompeii and Herculaneum.

On the following morning a second crater opened above the town in the path of the stream, and then the dark curtain was lifted upon the first act of the drama proper. The lava began its final advance on the doomed town. By six o'clock on the evening of April 7 the stream passed between the cemetery and the oratory, and half of Naples was there to see what it would do. It was a brilliant spectacle, and in its comparative harmlessness modulated mercifully toward the grimmer acts to come. The inhabitants, with touching faith and simplicity, carried the image of St. Anna in solemn procession from their church to stay the advance of the lava. It was to them a contest between the powers of heaven and of hell, and not until the first house had melted away did they lose their calm and almost cheerful faith that the good St. Anna would be as potent against the infernal river as is the holy Agatha, the protectress of Catania, when Etna rages. As a climax the great cone of Vesuvius fell in at 1:15 on Sunday morning,

with a shock which created a panic in Naples itself, and a huge tree of flame three times as high as the volcano, shot up to light the scene. According to Professor Bassani the quantities of lava which had issued from the new craters had undermined the cone and caused its collapse. The lava came on in a stream five metres high and from forty to three hundred metres wide. On reaching the town it split and encircled it, entering from either side. The work of destruction was leisurely, as the stream flowed no faster than seventy metres an hour. It would sullenly encircle a house, burn all the woodwork, and finally, by its own tremendous weight, push it into a crumbling heap. It would rush into a well with a sharp report and shoot a geyser of water thirty metres high over the bystanders. With a grim irony one of the streams took its way into the very church of the futile St. Anna herself. The Duke and Duchess of Aosta, with their characteristic kindness and ubiquity, were there bringing comfort and courage to the miserable contadini, who half worshiped them with a touching devotion. After destroying about one-fourth of the town without loss of life, the streams met and flowed down toward the city of Torre dell' Annunziata, wrecking the beautiful Villa Mango, and stopping just outside of the cemetery to the northeast of the city.

Few slept in Naples on that memorable

14-Vol. 8

Streams of

lava.

quake.

The earth night. The earthquake kept the terrified population in the streets. They rushed halfdressed into the squares and fell on their knees praying and singing frantically. The city swarmed with refugees from the slopes of Vesuvius, many of whom congregated in the Piazza di Municipio begging for help from the Neapolitan authorities, who responded promptly and generously. In the villages especially to the north and east of the volcano, earthquakes destroyed many buildings on Sunday, and on Monday morning the overwhelming rain of ashes changed in San Giuseppe, Ottaiano, Terzigno, and Somma into a hail of cinders which turned little by little into gravel, then pebbles, then stones as large as goose eggs, which crashed through roof and floor. The wretched people sought refuge in the churches only to be buried under crumbling masonry. The real way to safety lay in flight, and great numbers escaped by holding chairs and tables over their heads as they toiled along the heavy roads. Babes were struck from their mothers' arms. Husbands were forced to leave their mutilated wives by the roadside. Many a gallant deed was done that day. Many a son carried his aged parent Anchises-like from that terrible place. It is estimated that the loss of life in this region on Monday was over two hundred. In San Giuseppe alone one hundred and twenty were killed.