fine ruins. We went out by
Pompeii, which we had visited before, and which fully maintains its
character as one of the most striking pieces of antiquity, where the
furniture treasure and household are preserved in the excavated houses,
just as found by the labourers appointed by Government. The inside of
the apartments is adorned with curious paintings, if I may call them
such, in mosaic. A meeting between Darius and Alexander is remarkably
fine.[520] A street, called the street of Tombs, reaches a considerable
way out of the city, having been flanked by tombs on each side as the
law directed. The entrance into the town affords an interesting picture
of the private life of the Romans. We came next to the vestiges of
Herculaneum, which is destroyed like Pompeii but by the lava or molten
stone, which cannot be removed, whereas the tufa or volcanic ashes can
be with ease removed from Pompeii, which it has filled up lightly. After
having refreshed in a cottage in the desolate town, we proceed on our
journey eastward, flanked by one set of heights stretching from
Vesuvius, and forming a prolongation of that famous mountain. Another
chain of mountains seems to intersect our course in an opposite
direction and descends upon the town of Castellamare. Different from the
range of heights which is prolonged from Vesuvius, this second, which
runs to Castellamare, is entirely composed of granite, and, as is always
the case with mountains of this formation, betrays no trace of volcanic
agency. Its range was indeed broken and split up into specimens of rocks
of most romantic appearance and great variety, displaying granite rock
as the principal part of its composition. The country on which these
hills border is remarkable for its powers of vegetation, and produces
vast groves of vine, elm, chestnut, and similar trees, which grow when
stuck in by cuttings. The vines produce Lacryma Christi in great
quantities--not a bad wine, though the stranger requires to be used to
it. The sea-shore of the Bay of Naples forms the boundary on the right
of the country through which our journey lies, and we continue to
approach to the granite chain of eminences which stretch before us, as
if to bar our passage.

As we advanced to meet the great barrier of cliffs, a feature becomes
opposed to us of a very pronounced character, which seems qualified to
interrupt our progress. A road leading straight across the branch of
hills is carried up the steepest