ments on the island.
Scarcely had these manifestations ceased at Ustica, than Vesuvius began to
show signs of increased activity; the supplies in the wells on the
mountain sides began to fail, and there was observed a strong taste of
sulphur in the drinking water; whilst--most dreaded phenomenon of all--the
ever-active crater of Stromboli, that lies midway between Naples and
Messina, suddenly lapsed into quiescence. We all know the subsequent story
of the outbreak; of the thousands of fugitives flying into Naples or other
places of refuge; of the utter destruction of houses and cultivated
lands;--the doleful scenes of a Vesuvian eruption have been enacted and
described time after time in the history of the Mountain, and there is
every reason to suppose they will be repeated at intervals for centuries
to come. The marvel is how human beings can calmly settle down and pass
their lives so close to the jaws of the fire-spouting monster, and why an
intelligent Government permits its subjects to dwell in places which are
ever exposed to catastrophes such as that which we have just witnessed.
Well, it is the natural temperament of the Vesuviani to be fatalistic,
despite their religious fervour; and acts of legislature cannot force them
to abandon their old deep-rooted notions; all that the Italian Government
can do therefore is to stand ready prepared to help, when the upheaval
_does_ occur, as it inevitably must.

It is always a matter of speculation on these occasions as to what course
the ejected lava will pursue; whose turn, of the many settlements on the
southern slopes of the Mountain, will it be to suffer? This time it was
Bosco-Trecase, a village above Torre Annunziata, that was devastated by
the sinuous masses of incandescent matter, high as a house and broad as a
river. Torre Annunziata itself, as also ruined Pompeii were threatened,
but the red-hot streams of destruction mercifully stopped short of their
expected prey. The story of horrors and panic in the overthrow of
Bosco-Trecase is happily relieved by many a recorded incident of valour
and unselfishness. The royal _Carabinieri_, that splendid body of mounted
police, who in their cocked hats and voluminous cloaks appear as
ornamental in times of quiet as they prove themselves useful in the stormy
hours of peril, acquitted themselves, as usual, like heroes. It was they
who guided away the trembling peasants before the advance of the lava,
searching the doomed house