The Virginia Gazette

Extract of a Letter from Naples, dated November 16.

In the Night between the 7th and 8th Instant, from the new Aperture which was made on the East Side of Mount Vesuvius (See Gaz. No. 61.) there issued forth such a prodigious Flame of Fire, that notwithstanding our City is situate on the Western Side of the Mountain, we saw every now and then an uncommon Light in the Air. About Two in the Morning there were felt several Shocks of an Earthquake, in all the Parts adjacent to the said fiery Mountain. On the 9th in the Evening, the interior Banks of the Aperture on the Summit broke in, and sunk directly to the Bottom of the Volcano. As the Wind was in the East all that Night, and was pretty high, it carried some of the Embers as far as Portici, where his Majesty was then Resident. Yesterday the Top of the Mountain likewise seemed to be all in a Flame, and this very Morning there proceeded from it Abundance of sulphurous Matter. Ever since the 12th Instant all the Wells belonging to the Village de la Torre del Greco, situate on the Sea Shore to the South-West of the aforesaid Mountain, are perfectly dried up; and some People assert, that the Sea itself was considerably drove back from its usual Boundaries. Much the same Accident happened in the Year 1631, and the whole Port belonging to our City was almost dry. In the Year 1698 the Sea retreated from the Banks full 42 Feet; and at the same Time there issued from the Top of the aforesaid Mountain a Torrent of Water, of much larger Extent than that of the Flames.