from crag to crag, until I became half stifled, when, being convinced that no wise man would go any further, I seized a fragment of the rock as a trophy of my exploit, and clambered up again. The performance cost me the best part of a pair of boots, which were pretty well crisped among the hot rocks. The distant prospect from the top of Vesuvius is most superb. The great, craggy red head of Monte Somma frowns wildly opposite, while far beneath are the blue waters of the bay, the white clustering houses of Naples, the mountainous coast of Torrento, dotted with white houses, and the sweet blue islands of Capri, Ischia, and Procida, resting on the distant ocean. All around, on the land side, the eye wanders over green fields, orchards, and gardens, fresh with flowers and herbage, even at this early season. Away in the east the long mountainous ridge of the Apennines is seen skirting the horizon with their dark sides and snow-capped peaks. The view is sublime, and worth, of itself, a voyage across the Atlantic. We spent nearly an hour about the crater, admiring the beauty and grandeur of the scenery, and picking up curious bits of lava and other minerals, which arrest the traveller’s curiosity at every step. I found, among other things, a lump of salt, about the size of my fist, most beautifully crystallized into the shape of a tree. As we were preparing to descend, I cast my eyes downward and discovered our donkeys at the foot of the cone, standing huddled together in a cluster. They were almost directly under our feet, but at such a distance that they were diminished to the size of young rabbits. To descend the cone is quite as toilsome as to climb up, and a great deal more dangerous. In the loose soil one is apt to move downward too fast, and between walking and sliding, a great deal of care must be taken lest you go heels over head. I had got about half way down, when I heard a loud cry above; I looked up and saw a great stone coming down upon me. One of the party above had loosened it, while floundering and scrambling his way through the loose earth, and now gathering speed in its progress, it was rolling down directly over my head, bouncing from heap to heap, and ploughing up the soil in a most fearful manner. I scrambled down hill much faster than before, but again casting my eyes upward, found that the stone was overtaking me. I now began to feel seriously alarmed, for I was in imminent danger of being crushed to death. The stone came thundering onward, but fortunately, just before it reached me, it struck a little knoll and bounded off obliquely, dashing the gravel and pebbles to the right and left and ploughing the ground into a furrow, till it reached the bottom. A great avalanche of earth and stones came pouring after it, by which I was nearly carried off my legs and swept away; but by fixing my staff firmly into the ground and resisting with main force, I checked my slide till the danger was over.