the
height of 25,000 feet. After one of the eruptions ashes from Vesuvius
were noticeable in Sicily which is a large island near the extreme end
of the peninsula on which Naples is situated and some 200 miles from
the crater.

[Illustration: =MISSION DOLORES.=

This is the oldest building in San Francisco. It was founded October
8, 1776.

Noted as a mission church.]

[Illustration: =BUILDING CRUMBLED LIKE EGGSHELLS.=]

[Illustration: =WRECKED BUILDINGS.=]

CHAPTER XXII.

SCENES IN FRIGHTENED NAPLES.

=Blistering Showers of Hot Ashes--The People Frantic--Cry
Everywhere "When Will It End?"--Atmosphere Charged with
Electricity and Poisonous Fumes.=

From the first outburst and glare of the eruption all Naples became
aroused and trembled with anticipations of horror, and when the hot
ashes from the crater of Vesuvius began to fall in blistering showers
upon it the entire populace was seized with a fear, which for days was
constant, that at any moment they might be crushed into eternity by
the awful outpourings from the cauldron of the mountain which was in
truth as veritable an inferno as that pictured by Dante. The streets
for days, even up to the subsidence of the eruption, were packed with
surging crowds, all of whom were fatigued from fear and loss of rest,
yet there was hardly one in all the thousands who had not strength
enough to pray to the Almighty for deliverance.

At times the fall of sand and ashes appeared to be diminishing, but in
the next instant it came again, apparently in greater force than
before. The city became frantic from fear and everywhere was heard:
"When will it all end?"

The people deserted their shops, the manufactories were nearly all
shut down, while the theaters, cafes and places of amusements
throughout the city were all closed. The crowds were in a temper for
any excess and it would only require a spark to start a conflagration
that would have almost equalled that of Vesuvius itself.

When the coating of ashes and cinders covered the ground and roofs of
buildings the people believed that their loved and beautiful Naples
was doomed, and would be known thereafter only to archaeologists like
other cities which Vesuvius in its wrath had overwhelmed.

All railroad service out of the city was interrupted, the engineers
refusing to take out their trains because of the darkness caused by
the heavy fall of ashes.

Troops were kept constantly clea