His nephew then goes on to relate that he joined his friend who was in another vessel, and went on shore, where he took a bath and sat down to supper, not seeming to be in the least alarmed, when everybody about him was in the greatest consternation. He then went to sleep so soundly, that he was heard to snore. The ashes fell so thick in the court before his apartment, that it was getting nearly impassable, and his servants thought proper to awaken him. The walls of the houses began to rock, and he and his friends then resolved to go out into the fields, lest the stones and bricks should fall upon them. They tied pillows upon their heads, and went out with torches, for though it was daytime, the clouds of steam and ashes made it quite dark. They went down to the sea, and found it in violent commotion. Either a sudden gust of wind then brought the effluvia of the volcano towards them, or else a little stream of deadly vapour burst out from a crack in the ground, which dispersed the rest of the company. But Pliny, who was a fat asthmatic old man, had laid down upon the ground to watch what was going on. He attempted to rise, but almost before he had got on his feet, he fell down dead. "As soon as it was light again," says his nephew, "which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he fell." It was in the same eruption that the two great cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed by substances thrown out by the volcano. It does not appear that a single stream of lava flowed out till many years afterwards. There were several great eruptions between this time and the year 1306, and then the volcano was very nearly quiet for more than 300 years. During this time the volcanic power broke out in another place called Puzzuoli, at several miles distance. After a succession of violent eruptions, the earth was cleft open, and a hill, which is now called the Monte Nuovo, was thrown up in the space of a single night, which is 440 feet high, and a mile and a half in circumference. At the end of this period Vesuvius was richly covered with vegetation, even within the crater. But since the year 1650, there has not been ten years pass without an eruption. [Illustration] The form of the mountain has quite changed, and a little mountain has grown up out of the old broad topped one, as you may see in the above picture. HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII. These cities which were of great extent and importance, seem to have been almost forgotten during more than 1600 years. They are not often mentioned in Roman history, and, strange to say, the Latin writers who describe the eruption of Vesuvius, by which they must have been buried, have said nothing about them, except a very vague allusion or two, which would hardly have attracted any notice, if what I am going to tell you of, had not happened.