ere and there, or a gay petticoat, or
a scarlet cap,--perhaps a priest, with broad black hat, in the
center,--driving along like a comet, the poor horse in a gallop, the
bells on his ornamented saddle merrily jingling, and the whole load in a
roar of merriment.

But we shall never get to Vesuvius at this rate. I will not even stop
to examine the macaroni manufactories on the road. The long strips of
it were hung out on poles to dry in the streets, and to get a rich color
from the dirt and dust, to say nothing of its contact with the filthy
people who were making it. I am very fond of macaroni. At Resina we take
horses for the ascent. We had sent ahead for a guide and horses for our
party of ten; but we found besides, I should think, pretty nearly
the entire population of the locality awaiting us, not to count the
importunate beggars, the hags, male and female, and the ordinary loafers
of the place. We were besieged to take this and that horse or mule, to
buy walking-sticks for the climb, to purchase lava cut into charms, and
veritable ancient coins, and dug-up cameos, all manufactured for the
demand. One wanted to hold the horse, or to lead it, to carry a shawl,
or to show the way. In the midst of infinite clamor and noise, we at
last got mounted, and, turning into a narrow lane between high walls,
began the ascent, our cavalcade attended by a procession of rags and
wretchedness up through the village. Some of them fell off as we rose
among the vineyards, and they found us proof against begging; but
several accompanied us all day, hoping that, in some unguarded moment,
they could do us some slight service, and so establish a claim on us.
Among these I noticed some stout fellows with short ropes, with which
they intended to assist us up the steeps. If I looked away an instant,
some urchin would seize my horse's bridle; and when I carelessly let my
stick fall on his hand, in token for him to let go, he would fall back
with an injured look, and grasp the tail, from which I could only loosen
him by swinging my staff and preparing to break his head.

The ascent is easy at first between walls and the vineyards which
produce the celebrated Lachryma Christi. After a half hour we reached
and began to cross the lava of 1858, and the wild desolation and gloom
of the mountain began to strike us. One is here conscious of the titanic
forces at work. Sometimes it is as if a giant had ploughed the ground,
and left the furrows without