We had two fine looking fellows that belonged to the forecastle. One was a Boston boy, named Badger, the other, Jack Dixon, an Englishman; these men had not been on good terms for many days, and finally agreed to fight it out in fair play if they could obtain permission. They both came to the first lieutenant and made known to him their difficulty, and requested permission to settle the matter in an honorable manner, on deck, as fighting below was a punishable offence. The first lieutenant acquainted the captain of the request, when he immediately came on deck, had the two men sent aft, and asked them if thev could not settle their difficulty without fighting; they answered in the negative.
" Very well," says the captain, "get ready. Send the master-at-arms here, sir," to the officer of the deck; " each of you choose a friend/7 which they had already done. A ring was now formed, the master-at-arms was placed to see fair play; officers and crew gathered round. They stripped and went at it, and it was a grand display of that species of science called " fisti-cuffs." Every blow was measured with mathematical precision. As soon as either was knocked down, he was immediately caught by his friends, his back rubbed, and placed upon his feet, ready for another drop. These men fought nearly two hours, and were both so much exhausted they could scarcely stand; the captain ordered them to desist.
They separated, with an understanding that they should have another game on some other day, but that night, preliminaries of peace were ratified over a bottle of grog. We arrived at Naples late in the afternoon, and anchored over against Portici. Were quarantined here six days, and one night while lying here, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius occurred, which was truly a beautiful sight. The lurid name from the crater, and the streaming lava running down the sides of the mountain, with an occasional belching up of flame, as though old Vulcan was stirring up the lire, and then the whole bay was so beautifully illuminated that, take it altogether, it was a splendid panorama. After we had obtained pratique, our ship was swarmed with every sort of beggars, in the shape of blind fiddlers, horribly distorted, deformed men, women and children; and lots of priests and friars, begging for their several communities.
And the most deplorable sight of all was, mothers bringing off their daughters, urging them on the seamen for prostitution. And these same deluded beings, priestridden and oppressed in the vilest manner, carry about them a crucifix, with their beads and rosary, which they frequently resort to while engaged in the worst of crimes. And this they believe to be a propitiation. The excavation at Pompeii was progressing moderately. I visited the Museum where the curiosities were deposited. There were many things here which were taken from the uncovered houses, such as bread, dough, cloth, thread, and many domestic articles that looked as though they were about to he used when the sad calamity occurred. I saw skeletons that had been pressed into the earth, and many human bones, and an immense quantity of broken pottery, and about seventeen hundred pictures on fresco.
The excavation at that time had not developed much of the city, in fact, nothing compared to what can be seen at the present day. " Naples is the chief city of the Two Sicilies, with a population of 400,000 souls. The environs cannot be surpassed for scenic beauty and delightful reminiscences. They are painted over Virgil's tomb, in the stupendous grotto of Pausilipo." The Grotto del Cani, in which you can perceive the mephitic gas, rising some fifteen inches from the ground. They threw a dog into the grotto while I stood in it; the dog was immediatelv seized with convulsions, but taken out and water thrown upon him, or he would soon have died. Then there are St.
Germain's baths, warmed only by the heat arising from the ground. I noticed quite a number of ancient looking coaches, the horses, miserable looking affairs, and the harness made chiefly of pieces of rope, clumsily knotted, and one in particular, the driver who was in rusty livery, and the footman with a cocked hat, epaulets, and barefooted. The rider in this unique equipage was a beggar. I was told that these were poor noblemen, still clinging to the exterior show of nobilitv, and at the same time starvino-. The street beo-o-ars were so numerous that a stranger could hardly get along through the vast crowd that surrounded him. To give anything, however small, was to involve yourself in a much greater difficulty than before.