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⟨ochre⟩ colour, or a bright white and in ſome parts with a deep green and azure blue (ſo that is whole ⟨together⟩ had the effect of an iris) all had the appearance of a ſandy deſert. Our adventurers then ⟨went⟩ on the top of ſeven of the moſt considerable of the new formed mountains, and locked into their ⟨craters⟩, which on ſome of them appeared to be little ſhort of half a mile in circumference; and although the exterior perpendicular heigh of any of them did not exceed two hundred feet, the depth of their inverted one within was three times as great. It would not have been poſſible to have ⟨breathed⟩ on theſe new mountains near their craters, if they had not taken the precaution of tying a double handkerchief over their mouths and noſtrils; and even with that precaution they could not reſiſt long, the fumes of the vitriolic acid were ſo exceedingly penetrating, ⟨and⟩ of ſuch a ſuffocating quality. They found in one a double crater, like ⟨two⟩ funnels joined together; and in all there was ſome little ſmoke and depoſitions of ſalts and ſulphurs, of the various colours abovementioned, juſt as is commonly ſeen adhering to the inner walls of the principal crater of Veſuvius.
Two or three days after they had been there, one of the new mouths, into which they had locked, ſuddenly made a great exploſion of ſtones, ſmoke, and aſhes, which would certainly have proved fatal to any one who might unfortunately have been there at the time of the exploſion. We read of a ſimilar accident having proved fatal to more than twenty people who had the curioſity to look into the crater of the Monte Nuovo, near Puzzuoli, a few days after its formation, in the year 1538. The 15th of Auguſt, Sir William ſaw a ſudden exploſion of ſmoke and aſhes thrown to an extreme height out of the great crater of Veſuvius, that muſt have
