formed by the lava, and had passed over this town, was 1204 English feet in breadth; its height above the sea was twelve feet, and it extended into the sea 626 feet. The sea, for some days, was boiling like a cauldron round the foot of this newly-formed promontory, and even at a hundred yards from it, the water was scalding hot. A fisherman who went near it, observed that the pitch at the bottom of his boat was melting fast, and floating on the surface of the sea, and that his little vessel began to leak, he therefore hastily quitted the spot, and returned to Naples, deeply impressed with the awful calamity which had thus changed the whole face of the country.

But I promised you, in the beginning of this epistle, a description of Herculaneum and Pompeii, which I will now fulfil. In the year 1729, a part of the ruins was discovered by accident. A person having gone down a well near Portici, he discovered a passage which he crept into, and mentioning the circumstance to others, several persons went down with lights, and penetrating a great way, they discovered the foundation of streets and houses. This discovery being made known to the King of Naples, they began to make excavations through beds of lava, and at length discovered a theatre in the form of a horse shoe. That part where the spectators sat is still visible, and consists of eighteen rows of broad stone seats, one above another, in a circular form. Several little narrow flights of steps are still seen in various parts for the convenience of the spectators to ascend to the different ranges of seats. A large gallery leading round the outside of the theatre, may still be traced. The pavement must have been very beautiful from the specimens of coloured marble which still remain. In consequence of this discovery, they prosecuted their researches with considerable ardour, and their labour was repaid by a vast collection of busts, statues, cameos, and household utensils. An inkstand with ink in it, stylets or pens, eggs quite whole but empty, nuts and almonds, beans and peas burnt quite black, and many different fruits: medicines in pills, with their marks, a phial of oil, gold lace, in excellent preservation, and extremely curious, being spun out without any silk; soap, bran, &c. &c. and a loaf burnt to a coal, but still retaining the baker's mark, is now preserved with great care in a glass case. It is remarkable, that many of the weights and scales which were found, resemble those in use at the present day in Naples.

A skeleton was found in a door way, in a running attitude, with one arm extended, which appeared to have had a bag of money in it, for there is the impression of the bag in the lava,

and some pieces of money were found in the spot beneath it. Herculaneum, most probably, was destroyed by the burning lava; for had the city been swallowed up by an earthquake, more skeletons would have been found, and every thing would have been displaced, which was not the case.

In Pompeii, a small closet was found entire; the painting on the walls and ceiling perfectly unhurt; on one side of it, was a marble table, fastened into the wall itself, which might be called a side-board, and on which was placed one of the most beautiful tripods ever seen, about three feet high, and in the highest perfection, a crescent of silver, about five inches in diameter, a silver amulet or charm, representing Hippocrates, and a golden fibulæ or broach, about an inch in dia

meter.

The most curious, however, of all the discoveries made in either city is this, a small leg and thigh of some animal, covered with silver, which is five inches long. On the external part of it is described a sun-dial, formed on a quadrant, and as the thigh forms the quarter of a circle, the workman has taken the centre of this quadrant from the extremity of the ham or gammon, and hence has drawn hour lines, which with the lines that mark the months, forms the usual compartments, some larger and others smaller, which are divided six by six, as well in height as in length. Below the inferior compartments, which are the less, are read the names of the months, placed in two lines, in a retrograde order, so that the month of January is the last in the first line, which bears the other five following months. In the second line are described the six other months in their natural order; so that the month of December is under January, and so the months shorter and longer, have one common compartment for each couple. Almost on the edge of the right side, there is the tail of the animal, somewhat bent, and this performs the office of gnomen. On the extremity of the leg, or centre of the quadrant, there is a ring to hold the dial in an equipoise, and it is supposed that in this place the plummet was fastened, such as in the like dials is to fall on the present month, to determine the shadow of the gnomen on the horary lines.

These are, I believe, the most striking articles which have been discovered, and if I were to attempt to give you even a correct list of the busts, statues, cameos, intaglios, found in these two subterraneous cities, I should write a volume. I trust you will be amused with this slight sketch, which has not, I hope, excited your regrets at not having seen these ruins. Believe me, you would have been disappointed, for the glory of Herculaneum and Pompeii has long since moul

dered in oblivion, and the little that remains of these unfortunate cities, consists of excavated passages and defaced walls. Every thing valuable has been taken from them, and discovery is at length exhausted. Fare thee well.

FATHER BENEDICT.

The volcanoes of Etna, the Lipari Isles of Iceland, the Adriatic and African islands, and of America, have been described in several works. The following two articles have the novelty of presenting the eccentricity, if we may so speak, of the singular phenomena we are now investigating.

Mud Volcanoes of Trinidad.

10. In 1816, Dr. Ferguson visited this island, and found that in the eruptions of these semi-volcanoes, the matter thrown out is always cold. They are situated at the southern extremity of Trinidad, on a narrow tongue of land, which points directly into one of the mouths of the Oroonoko on the main, and not far from the celebrated pitch-lake.

Dr. Ferguson observed that the matter ordinarily thrown out, consisted of argillaceous earth mixed with salt water, about as salt as the water in the neighbouring gulf of Paria: but, though cold at all times, that pyritic fragments are occasionally ejected along with the argillaceous earth. He also observed that several mounts in the vicinity, possessed the same character in all respects, as the semi-volcanoes then in activity; having all the marks, except the actual eruption, of having been raised through a similar process to their present height of about one hundred feet; and that the trees around them were of the same kind that are found near lagoons and salt marshes.

M. Humboldt says, that at Monai in South America, there is a stratum of clayey earth, which inflames spontaneously, when slightly moistened and exposed for a long time to the rays of the tropical sun. The detonation of this muddy substance is very violent. It is of a black colour, soils the fingers, and emits a strong smell of sulphur.

Mud Volcanoes of Crobogan in Java.

11. In September 1817, the mud volcanoes of Crobogan, in Java, fifty miles from Solo, were witnessed by a party of which S. Goad, Esq. was one.

On approaching the village of Kuhoo, the travellers saw, between two trees in a plain, an appearance like the surf breaking over rocks, with a strong spray falling to leeward. The spot was completely surrounded by huts for the manufacture of salt. Alighting, they went to the Bludugs, as the Javanese call them; and found them to be on an elevated plain of mud, about two miles in circumference, in the centre of which immense bodies of salt mud were thrown up to the height of from ten to fifteen feet, in the forms of large globes, which, bursting, emitted volumes of dense white smoke. These large globes or bubbles, of which there were two, continued throwing up and bursting seven or eight times in a minute by the watch. At times they threw up two or three tons of mud.

The party got to leeward of the smoke, and found it to smell like the washing of a gun barrel. As the globes burst, they threw the mud out from the centre, with a pretty loud noise, occasioned by the falling of the mud upon that which surrounded it, and of which the plain is composed. It was difficult and dangerous to approach the large globes or bubbles, as the ground was all a quagmire, except where the surface of the mud had become hardened by the sun; upon this they approached cautiously to within fifty yards of the largest bubble or mud pudding, as it might very properly be called, for it was of the consistency of a custard pudding, and of very considerable diameter. They also got close to a small globe or bubble (the plain was full of them of different sizes) and observed it closely for some time. It appeared to heave and swell, and, when the internal air had raised it to some height, it burst, and the mud fell down in concentric circles, in which shape it remained quiet until a sufficient quantity of air was again formed internally to raise and burst another bubble. This continued at intervals from about onehalf to two minutes.

From various other parts of the quagmire, round the large globes or bubbles, there were occasionally small quantities of mud shot up like rockets, to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and accompanied by smoke. This was in parts where the mud was of too stiff a consistency to rise in globes or bubbles. The mud at all the places they came near was cold on the surface, but they were told it was warm beneath. The water which drains from the mud is collected by the Javanese,

and, by being exposed in the hollows of split bamboos to the rays of the sun, deposits crystals of salts.

In the two articles following, and with which we will close our notices of volcanoes, the reader is presented with every thing worthy of observation on this interesting topic.

ton.

Pseudo Volcano.

12. This volcano is situated near Bilston, on the road side, between Birmingham and WolverhampDr. Plott relates that it was on fire in 1686, but it was not known how long it had been in a state of combustion. Its space was then eleven acres, but its ravages have since extended throughout a square mile. Its origin and continuance are no doubt owing to strata of pyrites, (which are a compound of sulphur and iron,) existing among the coals.

In the year 1815, it began to penetrate through the floors of some houses: it produced great alarm, by appearing in the night; and four of the houses were taken down. It exhibits a red heat in this situation, and the smoke has forced its way through a bed of cinders forty feet in height. On the south it is arrested by beds of sand, which cover the coal formation: and on the north-east it is impeded by cultivation. At first view, a stranger might suppose himself in a volcanic region. The exterior view of the strata, exposed by the falling in of the ground, presents a surface blackened by the action of fire, and presenting most of the porphyritic and trappear colours in high perfection. The cinder dust under foot, the sulphureous vapour and smoke which arise from the various parts of the surface, and the feeling of insecurity which attend the footsteps, all combine to give a high degree of interest to the scene. The minerals found in this region are, sulphur, in small brilliant massy cyrstals, also mineral tar ; coal, in some places only four feet from the surface; sulphate of alumine; muriate of ammonia, combined with a small proportion of sulphate of ammonia; sulphate of zinc; sulphate of lime; porcelain jasper; newest floetz trap, basalt, or rowley-rag. Artificial Volcano.

13. Mix together half a hundred weight of sul phur with the same quantity of iron filings, forming