Rollo in Naples Part 11

The party then went on down another flight of steps, which led into a series of dark, vaulted chambers, all hewn out of the rock. By holding the candles up to the sides of these chambers, the party could see here and there the remains of old arches, columns, and walls, which had been buried up in the lava, but were now partially disinterred.

These remains were part of an ancient theatre; and after pa.s.sing through several gloomy pa.s.sages, the party came to a large chamber, where the whole front of the stage had been brought to view. Before it, in a range, were the seats for the musicians. On each side there was a ma.s.sive pedestal. The guide said that there were two bronze statues on these pedestals when the place was first excavated, but that they had been taken away, and were now deposited in the museum at Naples.

"We shall see them there, I suppose," said Mr. George, "when we go to visit the museum."

"I shall take great interest in seeing them," said Mrs. Gray.

In some places the old pavement of the theatre had been laid bare, and was plainly to be seen by holding the candles down close to the ground.

In other places the painting on the walls had been found, with the colors quite fresh.

"These must be places that the hot lava did not come to," said Rollo.

"I suppose so," said Mr. George.

It was not possible to obtain any information from the guide, for he could speak no language but the Italian, with the exception of a few English words and phrases, which he p.r.o.nounced in so outlandish a manner, and mingled them up so much with his Neapolitan dialect, that it was very difficult to recognize them.

"Questa vindow; vindow orizhinalle," he would say, meaning that the opening that he was pointing to was one of the original windows of the edifice. And then he would go on with a long sentence in the Neapolitan dialect, which was perfectly unintelligible from beginning to end.

At length the exploration was ended, and the whole party ascended again to the surface of the ground. The guide took the candles from their hands as they came up, and Philippe paid him his fee. Mr. George led the way to the carriage, which was still waiting at the door. It was surrounded, as before, with poor children and beggars, who set up a loud clamor for alms as soon as the party made their appearance.

Mr. George took no notice of them, but opened the door for Mrs. Gray and Rosie to get in. They got in, and Mrs. Gray took her place on the forward seat of the carriage,--that is, with her back to the horses,--and Rosie sat down by the side of her.

"The other is your seat, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George.

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "we are going to ride here now, and let you and the boys have the back seat."

"O, no, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George; "please take the back seat."

"By and by I will," said Mrs. Gray, "but not now."

So Mr. George and the two boys got in and took the back seat, which was a great deal better than the forward seat, as it afforded so much better opportunity to see.

All this was done in a moment, and Philippe, after shutting the door and mounting the box with the coachman, gave the order to drive on.

"I think you and Rosie ought to have this seat, Mrs. Gray," said Rollo.

"I have had that seat already for an hour," said Mrs. Gray. "There is no reason why I should have it all the time."

"Why, yes," said Rollo; "because you are a lady."

"My being a lady is a very good reason why the gentlemen should always offer me the best seat," said Mrs. Gray; "but it is no reason why I should always take it. Indeed, it is a very good reason why I should not; for it is not at all ladylike to be monopolizing and selfish in respect to good seats and good places when there is any thing to see."

Mr. George did not care a great deal about the difference in the seats, but he was so much pleased with the disinterested and considerate spirit which Mrs. Gray manifested in this case, that he secretly resolved that he would invite her and Rosie to accompany him on every excursion that he made.

The road now left the sh.o.r.e, and soon began to ascend the mountain, winding this way and that in long zigzags, through rich vineyards and groves of mulberry trees, all planted on soil which had been formed during the lapse of ages from the disintegration and decay of the lava which had come down from the volcano above. This land was very fertile; and as both the soil itself and the rocks from which it was formed were of a rich brown color, the country looked even more fertile than it really was. The road was excellent. Indeed, as Philippe had said, it was as hard and smooth as a floor. It was macadamized all the way, being made of lava, broken small, and so compacted together, and worn so hard and smooth by the wheels that had gone over it, and by the feet of the horses and mules, that it seemed one continuous surface of stone.

The views on every side were of course continually enlarging and expanding the higher the carriage ascended, and as, in the long windings and zigzags of the road, the heads of the horses were turning continually into different directions, each person in the carriage, without changing his seat, or even turning his head, had all the different views presented successively before him.

The whole expanse of the Bay of Naples was coming continually more and more fully into view, with the mountainous islands in the offing, which border it towards the sea, and a long line of hamlets, villages, and towns, extending, like a white fringe upon a green mantle, along the curve of the sh.o.r.e. Naples was seen in the distance, with the great Castle of St. Elmo on a rocky summit above it.

Towards the mountain the travellers could see lofty peaks, with immense valleys between them. These valleys were extremely fertile and beautiful, except where recent streams of lava had flowed through them; that is, lava which had issued from the mountain within a few hundred years. From the road where the carriage was now moving, the party could look down upon the beds of these streams, and as the lava had already become partially decomposed, they looked like immense fields of rich brown soil turned up by the plough. These valleys, by which the mountain sides were furrowed, were so large, and the streams of lava in the beds of them were comparatively so small, that Mr. George said he did not wonder that the people in the towns along the sea sh.o.r.e were not more afraid of living so near the mountain.

"There is room enough in these valleys," said he, "to hold the lava of a thousand eruptions, before they would be filled up."

At length the carriage arrived at the Hermitage. The building stood, as Rollo had seen with his opera gla.s.s from the balcony of the hotel, at the outer extremity of a spur of the mountain, a mile or two from the foot of the great cone. The road to the foot of the great cone lay along the crest of the ridge. The observatory, which was a larger and handsomer building, stood just above and beyond it, and was surrounded with very pretty gardens.

The grounds around the Hermitage were very fertile, and though they were steep and broken, they were so laid out in vineyards and groves of mulberry trees, and the sun shone upon them so pleasantly, that they presented a very attractive appearance. The Hermitage was a plain, but neat stone building, ma.s.sive and white, with a broad area before it, where a great many carriages, and also a great many donkeys and mules, all saddled and bridled, were standing. The carriage drove up rapidly, and stopped before the door.

Here followed another noise and uproar, from beggars, musicians, mule and donkey men, guides, and boys, who gathered about the carriage in a crowd as soon as it stopped, all clamoring for money or employment. Mr.

George paid no attention to them, but a.s.sisting Mrs. Gray and Rosie to descend, he led the way into the house. There was a boy at the door to receive him. The boy led the way up a narrow flight of stone stairs to a sort of hall, surrounded on every side by ma.s.sive walls of stone. There were two or three desolate-looking rooms opening from this hall. The room doors were open. The floors were all of stone. There were tables set in these rooms, and different parties were seated at them, partaking of refreshments that they had brought up with them in their carriages--the bags and baskets in which they had brought them up lying at their feet.

These parties were waited upon by the monk, who walked about among the guests, bringing them gla.s.ses, knives and forks, bottles of wine, and any thing else that they required. He was dressed in the costume of his order, and looked, as Rosie said, precisely like the pictures of monks which she had seen in books in America.

Philippe came up almost immediately after his party, bringing with him his basket of refreshments. He soon found a table that was unoccupied, and having placed chairs around it, he asked the monk to bring some gla.s.ses and some knives and forks.

"And now," said he, addressing Mr. George, "if you will take some refreshment here, I will go and make the preparations for continuing the ascent. I will come up again as soon as we are ready."

So Philippe went away. Mrs. Gray and Rosie sat down at the table, but the boys began to ramble about in the hall and in the rooms, to see what was to be seen, taking care, however, to go now and then to the table to get fresh pieces of bread and b.u.t.ter, and oranges, so as to keep themselves well supplied with provisions all the time.

In about fifteen minutes Philippe came up, and said that the arrangements were made, and then the whole party went down stairs. There were two portantinas at the door, all ready. The men--an extremely rough-looking set--stood beside them.

"Now, Rosie," said Mrs. Gray, "you may get into yours first, so that I may see how you do it."

Philippe spread a shawl over the chair which Rosie was to go in, and Rosie took her seat. Four of the men then took hold of the ends of the poles, and first with a lift, and then a gentle toss, they raised it up to their shoulders. Rosie was a little frightened when she found herself going up so high into the air; but when the ends of the poles came down gently upon the men's shoulders and rested there, she felt rea.s.sured, and she looked down upon her mother with a smile.

"How do you feel?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"Beautifully," said Rosie.

Mrs. Gray then took her seat in her chair, and the bearers lifted her up upon their shoulders in the same way. Both sets of bearers set off immediately.

Rollo and Josie then mounted two donkeys, which Philippe had provided for them, while Mr. George set out on foot. In this order the party moved in quite a long procession from the area before the Hermitage, and began to follow the winding path which led along the crest of the ridge towards the foot of the cone. There were in all nearly thirty persons, thus:--

Travellers, 5 Portantina bearers, 8 to each chair, 16 Donkey drivers, 2 Strapmen, 2 Refreshment man, 1 Guide, 1 __ 27

The refreshment man carried the provisions, which he hoped to sell to the party by the way, in a basket poised upon his head.

The procession moved on in this order, along a rough and narrow mule path, for nearly an hour. In some parts of the way the road was pretty nearly level; in others it was extremely broken and steep, where it pa.s.sed across old streams of lava. Before them the travellers could see, all the way, the immense cone, which formed the summit of the mountain, rising into the sky. They saw that they were gradually drawing nearer and nearer to the foot of it, and on looking up they could see another party, which had preceded them in making the ascent, slowly toiling their way up the rocky steep, while, at a little distance on one side, another party were seen descending by a different path, which was seen winding down circuitously at a part of the mountain where the slope was formed of sand.

At length Rollo saw at a distance before him a level place among the trees, very near the foot of the great cone. This he knew at once must be the halting place.

"Uncle George," said he, "we are coming to the end of our ride."

"Are we?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo. "Do you see all those mules and donkeys there, standing together among the rocks and trees? That must be the halting place at the foot of the cone."

Rollo was right. As soon as he and Josie arrived at this place, the donkey boys stopped the donkeys, and held them by the head for the riders to dismount. The bearers of the portantinas stopped too, to change hands.