ffice
just under the great gate called the _Porta del Popolo_, at Rome. The
party spent the Sabbath at Rome, and on the Monday morning after they
set out again. On the following Thursday they arrived at Naples, and
there they all established themselves in very pleasant quarters at the
Hotel de Rome--a hotel which, being built out over the water from the
busiest part of the town, commands on every side charming views, both of
the town and of the sea.

CHAPTER IV.

SITUATION OF NAPLES.

Naples is situated on a bay which has the reputation of being the most
magnificent sheet of water in the world. It is bordered on every side by
romantic cliffs and headlands, or by green and beautiful slopes of land,
which are adorned with vineyards and groves of orange and lemon trees,
and dotted with white villas; while all along the shore, close to the
margin of the water, there extends an almost uninterrupted line of
cities and towns round almost the whole circumference of the bay. The
greatest of these cities is Naples.

[Illustration: SITUATION OF NAPLES.]

But the crowning glory of the scene is the great volcano Vesuvius, which
rises a vast green cone from the midst of the plain, and emits from its
summit a constant stream of smoke. In times of eruption this smoke
becomes very dense and voluminous, and alternates from time to time with
bursts of what seems to be flame, and with explosive ejections of
red-hot stones or molten lava. Besides the cities and towns that are
now to be seen along the shore at the foot of the slopes of the
mountain, there are many others buried deep beneath the ground, having
been overwhelmed by currents of lava from the volcano, or by showers of
ashes and stones, in eruptions which took place ages ago.

Of course there is every probability that there will be more eruptions
in time to come, and that many of the present towns will also be
overwhelmed and destroyed, as their predecessors have been. But these
eruptions occur usually at such distant intervals from each other, that
the people think it is not probable that the town in which they live
will be destroyed in their day; and so they are quiet. Of course,
however, whenever they hear a rumbling in the mountain behind them, or
notice any other sign of an approaching convulsion, they naturally feel
somewhat nervous until the danger passes by.

Naples is built on the northern shore of the bay You will see by the map
on the preceding page jus