seen: the cavern then is perfectly dry, and has a mild warmth. It is, therefore, not surprising that swarms of flies, gnats, bats, owls, and even great numbers of foxes and hares, resort thither, as to their winter retreat, and remain there until the return of spring. THE YANAR, OR PERPETUAL FIRE. CAPTAIN BEAUFORT, of the royal Navy, F. R. S. among the interesting details of his late survey of Karamania, or the South coast of Asia Minor, describes this curious phenomenon; and from his account the following particulars are extracted, as supplementary to the ample details of volcanoes already given. Having perceived during the night a small but steady light among the hills, this was represented by the inhabitants as a yanar, or volcanic light; and on the following morning curiosity led him to visit the spot. In the inner corner of a ruined building he came to a wall, so undermined as to leave an aperture of about three feet in diameter, and shaped like the mouth of an oven. From this aperture the flame issued, giving out an intense heat, but without producing any smoke on the wall; and although several small lumps of caked soot were detached from the neck of the opening, the walls were scarcely discoloured. Trees, brushwood, and weeds, grew close around this little crater; a small stream trickled down the hill in its vicinity; and the ground did not appear to feel the effect of its heat at more than a few yards distance. Not any volcanic productions were to be perceived near to it; but at a short distance, lower down on the side of the hill, was another hole or aperture, which had apparently been at some remote period the vent of a similar flame. It was asserted, however, by the guide, that, in the memory of the present race of inhabitants, there had been but one such volcanic opening, and that its size and appearance had been constantly the same. He added, that it was never accompanied by earthquakes or noises; and that it did not eject either stones, smoke, or noxious vapours; but that its brilliant and perpetual flame could not be quenched by any quan tity of water. At this flame, he observed, the shepherds were in the habit of cooking their food. This phenomenon appears to Captain Beaufort to have existed for many ages, and he is persuaded that it is the spot to which Pliny alludes in the following passage :"Mount Chimera, near Phaselis, emits an unceasing flame, which burns day and night." Within a short distance is the great mountain of Takhtalu, the naked summit of which rises, in an insulated peak, 7800 feet above the level of the sea. In the month of August a few streaks of snow were discernable on the peak; but many of the distant mountains of the interior were completely white for nearly a fourth down their sides. It may hence be inferred, that the elevation of this part of Mount Taurus is not less than 10,000 feet, which is equal to that of Mount Etna. Such a striking feature as this stupenduous mountain, in a country inhabited by illiterate and credulous people, cannot fail to have been the subject of numerous tales and traditions. Accordingly, the Captain was informed by the peasants, that there is a perpetual flow of the purest water from the very apex; and that notwithstanding the snow, which was still lingering in the chasms, roses blew there all the year round. He was assured by the Agha of Deliktash that every autumn a midnight groan is heard to issue from the summit of the mountain, louder than the report of any cannon, but unaccompanied by fire or smoke. He professed his ignorance of the cause; but on being pressed for his opinion, gravely replied, that he believed it was an annual summons to the elect, to make the best of their way to Paradise. However amusing this theory may have been, it may possibly be true that such explosions take place. The mountain artillery described by Captains Lewis and Clarke, in their travels in North America, and similar phenomena which are said to have occurred in South America, seem to lend some probability to the account. The natives have also a tradition, that when Moses fled from Egypt, he took up his abode near this mountain, which was therefore named Moossa-Daghy, or the mountain of Moses. Between this story, and the Yanar, as it has been described above, may there not have been some fanciful connection? The site of this volcanic opening is at an inconsiderable distance from the mountain; and the HERCULANEUM. flame issuing from the thicket which surrounds it, may have HERCULANEUM. THIS city was, together with Pompeii and Stabia, involved in the common ruin occasioned by the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius, in the reign of Titus already described. It was situated on a point of land stretching into the Gulph of Naples, about two miles distant from that city, near where the modern towns of Portici and Resini, and the Royal Palace, by which they are separated, now stand. The neck of land on which it was built, and which has since disappeared, formed a small harbour. Hence the appellation of Herculis Porticum, the small haven of Hercules, sometimes given to Herculaneum, and thence in all probability, the modern name of Portici. The latter being situated immediately above some of the excavations of Herculaneum, the just fear of endangering its safety, by undermining it, is given as a principal reason why so little progress has been made in the Herculanean researches. The discovery of Herculaneum is thus explained. At an inconsiderable distance from the Royal Palace of Portici, and close to the sea side, Prince Elbeuf, in the beginning of the last century, inhabited an elegant villa. To obtain a supply of water a well was dug, in the year 1730, through the deep crust of lava on which the mansion itself had been reared. The labourers, after having completely pierced through the lava, which was of considerable depth, came to a stratum of dry mud. This event precisely agrees with the tradition relative to Herculaneum, that it was in the first instance overwhelmed by a stratum of hot mud, which was immediately followed by a wide stream of lava. Whether this mud was thrown up from Vesuvius, or formed by torrents of rain, does not appear to have been decided. Within the stratum the workmen found three female statues, which were sent to Vienna. It was not until some years after that the researches at Herculaneum were seriously and systematically pursued. By continuing Elbent's well, the excavators at once came to the theatre, and from that spot carried on their further sub14 terraneous investigation. The condition of Herculaneum was at that time much more interesting, and more worthy the notice of the traveller, than it is at present. The object of its excavation having unfortunately been confined to the discovery of statues, paintings, and other curiosities, and not carried on with a view to lay open the city, and thus to ascertain the features of its buildings and streets, most of the latter were again filled up with rubbish as soon as they were divested of every thing moveable. The marble even was torn from the walls of the temples. Herculaneum may therefore be said to have been overwhelmed a second time by its modern discoverers; and the appearance it previously presented, can now only be ascertained from the accounts of those who saw it in a more perfect state. Agreeably to them, it must at that time have afforded a most interesting spectacle. The theatre was one of the most perfect specimens of ancient architecture. It had, from the floor upwards, eighteen rows of seats, and above these, three other rows, which, being covered with a portico, seem to have been intended for the female part of the audience, to screen them from the rays of the sun. It was capable of containing between three and four thousand persons. Nearly the whole of its surface was, as well as the arched walls which led to the seats, cased with marble. The area, or pit, was floored with thick squares of giallo antico, a beautiful marble of a yellowish hue. On the top stood a group of four bronze horses, drawing a car, with a charioteer, all of exquisite workmanship. The pedestal of white marble is still to be seen in its place; but the group itself had been crushed and broken in pieces by the immense weight of lava which fell on it. The fragments having been collected, might easily have been brought together again, but having been carelessly thrown into a corner, a part of them were stolen, and another portion fused, and converted into busts of their Neapolitan Majesties. At length, it was resolved to make the best use of what remained, that is, to convert the four horses into one, by taking a fore leg of one of them, a hinder leg of another, the head of a third, &c. and, where the breach was irremediable, to cast a new piece. To this contrivance the bronze horse in the courtyard of the Museum of Portici owes its existence; and, considering its patchwork origin, still conveys a high idea of the skill of the ancient artist. In the forum, which was contiguous to the theatre, beside a unmber of inscriptions, columns, &c. two beautiful equestrian statues of the Balbi family were found. These are of white marble, and are deposited in the hall of the left wing of the Palace at Portici. Adjoining to the forum stood the temple of Hercules, an elegant rotunda, the interior of which was decorated with a variety of paintings, such as Theseus returning from his Cretan adventure with the Minotaur; Telephus's birth; Chiron the centaur instructing Achilles, &c. These were carefully separated from the walls, and are here deposited in the museum. The most important discovery, however, was that of a villa, at a small distance from the forum; not only on account of the peculiarity of its plan, but because the greater number of the works of art were dug out of its precinct; and more especially because it contained a library consisting of more than fifteen hundred volumes, which are likewise safely deposited in the museum, and which, were they legible, would form a great classic treasure. These will be considered under the head of PAPYRI. The villa is conjectured to have belonged to one of the Balbi family. Although elegant, it was small,and consisted of a ground-floor only, like those of Pompeii. Beside a number of small closets round an interior hall, it contained a bathing-room, curiously fitted up with marble and water-pipes, and a chapel of a diminutive size, without any window or aperture for day-light, the walls of which were painted with serpents, and within which a bronze tripod, filled with cinders and ashes, was found standing on the floor. The apartment which contained the library was fitted up with wooden presses around the walls, about six feet in height: a double row of presses stood insulated in the middle of the room, so as to admit a free passage on every side. The wood of which the presses had been made, was burned to a cinder, and gave way at the first touch; but the volumes, composed of a much more perishable substance, the Egyptian or Syracusan papyrus, were, although completely carbonized through the effect of the heat, still so far pre |