Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1842-1844.] TEMERITY ON MOUNT VESUVIUS.

183

and having three or four apertures at the summit, out of
which came fire, with showers of stones. As these were shot
forth the cone shook to its base. The General insisted on
descending into the crater, attended by one of the guides,
whom he bade to lead on as far as he dared to go. The guide
accordingly led him down, step by step, and rapidly, across
the field and to the very foot of the cone, where he stopped,
refusing to go farther. But the General, grasping his climbing-staff, mounted to the top of the cone, and actually poked
his stick into one of the open vents-looking up, when redhot stones flew out, to dodge them as they fell. IHe did not
defend these proceedings in after-years, but agreed with us
that they were preposterous. Still, they were characteristic
of his coolness and love of adventure.
From Naples we went by steamer to Marseilles, and thence
through France to Paris. The journey was, in some respects,
very characteristic, our route being through Arles, Avignon,
and Givors, and by Roanne and Cosne, on the river Loire, to
Orleans. We travelled part of the way on a railroad which
was one of the first constructed in the kingdom; and, as the
engineers proceeded on the theory that, as a straight line is
the shortest distance between two points, so the simplest way
to build a railroad was to carry it straight along, no matter
what stood in the way, this particular road, passing through
a hilly country, was little better than an interminable succession of tunnels, connected by brief ventilation in the open
air. On the river Loire we journeyed in a strange kind of
steamer, of immense length, very narrow, and drawing very
little water. The whole line had a common name-the
Inexplosibles-numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Whenever the Inexplosible No. 4, our noble craft, grounded on the shoals of
the river-which happened every hour or so-the sailors
jumped overboard-the water being not quite up to their
knees —and shoved her along, to the delight of the voyagers.
In those days there was a justly celebrated line of Havre