A few minutes after, a party of visiters arrived who had no such humane scruples: they were resolved to see the experiment tried. Accordingly, a dog was brought forward; and I now had a chance to see how much truth there was in the assertion that these animals were fond of being choked to death. The poor dog no sooner perceived his visiters than he became as perfectly aware of what was going forward as if he had heard and understood every syllable that had been said. It showed the utmost unwillingness to proceed towards the cavern, but his master seized him by the neck and dragged him with main force along till he reached the mouth of the cave, into which he thrust him howling and making the most piteous cries. In a few minutes he fell upon the ground motionless, and lay without any signs of life. The spectators declared that they had seen enough to satisfy them; on which the fellow took the dog up by the ears and plunged him into the lake. After two or three dips, the poor animal began to agitate his limbs and at length came to himself and ran scampering off. These inhuman exhibitions ought not to be encouraged by travellers. Every part of the neighborhood of the city abounds with evidence of the existence of volcanic fire, under ground. As I walked along the road I found the smoke issuing from holes and clefts in the ground: and on placing my hands in these fissures, I found them so hot that one might roast eggs in them. Yet people build houses and pass their lives upon these spots, without troubling themselves with the reflection that they live on a thin crust of soil hanging over a yawning gulf of fire! In my walk homeward I passed by a hill, about the size of Bunker Hill, which some time ago rose up suddenly, in a single night, from a level plain. It is now all overgrown with weeds and bushes. If it were not for Mount Vesuvius, which affords a breathing-place for these subterranean fires, it is highly probable that the whole face of the country would be rent into fragments by earthquakes and volcanic explosions. Vesuvius may be called the _safety valve_ of the country. On my way home, I was stopped on the road by an immense crowd. It was a funeral. A long train of monks and priests attended the hearse, each one clad in a dress which resembled a loose white sheet thrown over the head and falling down to the feet, with little round holes cut for the eyes. They looked like a congregation of spectres from the other world. The corpse was that of an army officer. He lay not in a coffin, but exposed in full uniform upon a crimson pall edged with gold. Everything accompanying the hearse was pompous, showy and dazzling.