of great resort for rich Egyptians who cared to dwell in Europe. On
the flanks of the mountain there was at least one large town,
Herculaneum, which appears to have been an association of rich men's
residences. On the eastern side of the bay, at a point now known as
Baiæ, the Roman Government had a naval station, which in the year 79
was under the command of the celebrated Pliny, a most voluminous
though unscientific writer on matters of natural history. With him in
that year there was his nephew, commonly known as the younger Pliny,
then a student of eighteen years, but afterward himself an author.
These facts are stated in some detail, for they are all involved in
the great tragedy which we are now to describe.

For many years there had been no eruption about the Bay of Naples. The
volcanoes on Ischia had been still for a century or more, and the
various circular openings on the mainland had been so far quiet that
they were not recognised as volcanoes. Even the inquisitive Pliny,
with his great learning, was so little of a geologist that he did not
know the signs which indicate the seat of volcanic action, though they
are among the most conspicuous features which can meet the eye. The
Greeks would doubtless have recognised the meaning of these physical
signs. In the year 63 the shores of the Bay of Naples were subjected
to a distinctive earthquake. Others less severe followed in subsequent
years. In an early morning in the year 79, a servant aroused the elder
Pliny at Baiæ with the news that there was a wonderful cloud rising
from Monte Somma. The younger Pliny states that in form it was like a
pine tree, the common species in Italy having a long trunk with a
crown of foliage on its summit, shaped like an umbrella. This crown of
the column grew until it spread over the whole landscape, darkening
the field of view. Shortly after, a despatch boat brought a message to
the admiral, who at once set forth for the seat of the disturbance. He