DESTRUCTION OF BOSCOTRECASE



mountain slopes had abandoned their homes and fruitfnl
gardens to destruction and were fleeing down to a zone of
safety. However, Professor Matteucci, the astronomer whose
observatory is on the spur of the volcanic cone, remained at
his post with his assistant, Frank Alvord Perret, of New
York, and witnessed the eruptions of this and the following
days. The electrical phenomena were extraordinary, and
seriously interfered with the operation of the seismograph,
the instrument for recording the violence, frequency, and
direction of the earth tremors.
    The eruption began with an overflow of lava, or molten
rock. On April 6 the main stream of lava, 150 to 450 feet
wide, and from 30 to 35 feet high, was pouring down the
southern slope of the mountain at the rate of 21 feet a minute,
shriveling by its heat even before contact the vegetation in its
pEth. All the while there fell a shower of ashes and black
sand, which, mingled with hot vapor, came down at times in
the form of "caustic rain," very destructive to vegetation.
The military engineers tried to dam the lava flow, but it burst
through all obstructions, and, on April 7, overwhelmed Bos-
cotrecase, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, and drove out the
30,000 of Torre dell' Anunziata.
   On Sunday, the 8th, the great jagged cone within the
crater was blown off in rock fragments, which fell on all
sides, a number of them piercing the roof and breaking the
windows of Professor Matteucci's observatory. During the
day many enormous blocks of stone were cast up to the
height of 2,500 feet above the crater. The ashes ascended
much higher, and spread out in the shape of a huge tree,
a veritable upas of death, for the destruction of life was
wholly due to the droppings from its branches. Driven by
the southern wind the main extension was to the north, where
all the fatalities occurred, chiefly in the towns of Ottaiano
and San Giuseppe, on the northeastern slope of the volcanoo.
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