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Naples, and in the erection of solid buildings. The depth of the gulf, or boiling matter, from which arises a constant smoke, is calculated to be about 543 feet, It is common, at all times when it has rained much, to see torrents of water descend with a loud noise from Vesuvius; but those which descend during an eruption do the most damage.
These waters, stopped at the foot of the mountain by immense masses of cinders and sand, which from a sort of dyke, augment their force, and render the fall more impetuous. To these floods of water, shocks of earthquakes are added, which continue at intervals during a month together.
The new eruption commenced on the 20th of October, about twelve o'clock. A dreadful internal noise was heard throughout the neighbourhood; the lava began to appear, and soon flowed in a torrent about a mile broad. The next day a second body of lava, half a mile in breadth, issued forth and covered the old lava, on the side of Bosco-Tre-Case: a third and fourth stream soon afterwards burst forth.
The following particulars of the progress of the eruption are from private letters:—
Naples, October, 23.—You will have heard, my dear brother, before, this reaches
