and 39th degrees) was entirely altered, particularly on the wetward fide of the mountains above named; that many openings and cracks had been made in those parts; that fome hills had been lowered, and others quite levelled; that in the plains, deep chafms had been made, by which many roads were rendered impaffable; that huge mountains had been split afunder, and parts of them driven to a considerable diftance; that deep vallies had been filled up by the mountains (which formed thofe vallies) having been detached by the violence of the earthquakes, and joined together; that the courfe of fome rivers had been altered; that many springs of water had appeared in places that were perfectly dry before; and that in other parts, fprings that had been conftant had totally difappeared; that near Laureana in Calabria Ultra, a fingular phenomenon had been produced, that the furface of two whole tenements, with large olive and mulberry-trees therein, fituated in a valley perfectly level, had been detached by the earthquake, and transplanted, the trees fill remaining in their places, to the distance of about a mile from their firft fituations; and that from the spot on which they formerly stood hot water had fprung up to a confiderable height, mixed with fand of a ferruginous nature; that near this place alfo fome countrymen and fhepherds had been swallowed up with their teams of oxen and their flocks of goats and fheep; in fhort, that beginning from the city of Amantea, fituated on the coaft of the Tyrrene fea in Calabria Citra, and going along the weftward coaft to Cape Spartivento in CaVOL. XXVI.

labria Ultra, and then up the eaftern coaft as far as the Cape d'Alice (a part of Calabria Citra on the Ionian fea), there is not a town or village, either on the coaft or land, but what is either totally deftroyed, or has fuffered more or lefs, amounting in all to near four hundred, what are called here Paefes; a village containing lefs than an hundred inhabitants is not counted as a Paefe.

The greatest mortality fell upon thofe towns and countries fituated in the plain on the western fide of the mountains Dejo, Sacro, and Caulone. At Cafal Nuovo, the Princefs Gerace, and upwards of 4000 of the inhabitants, loft their lives; at Bagnara, the number of dead amounts to 3017; Radicina and Palmi count their lofs at about 3000 each; Terranuova about 1400; Seminari ftill more. The fum total of the mortality in both Calabrias and in Sicily, by the earthquakes alone, according to the returns in the fecretary of ftate's office at Naples, is 32,367; but I have good reafon to believe that, including ftrangers, the number of lives loft must have been confiderably greater, 40,000 at leaft may be allowed, and, I believe, without any exaggeration.

From the fame office intelligence we likewife heard, that the inhabitants of Scilla on the first fhock of the earthquake, the 5th of February, had efcaped from their houfes on the rock, and, following the example of their prince, taken fhelter on the fea-fhore; but that in the night-time the fame fhock, which had raised and agitated the fea fo violently, and done fo much damage on the point of the Faro of Meffina, had

E

afted

afted with ftill greater violence there, for that the wave (which was reprefented to have been boiling hot, and that many people had been fcalded by its rifing to a great height) went furiously three miles inland, and fwept off in its return 2473 of the inhabitants of Scilla, with the prince at their head, who were at that time either on the Scilla Strand, or in boats near the fhore.

All accounts agreed, that of the number of fhocks which have been felt fince the beginning of this formidable earthquake, amounting to fome hundreds, the moft violent, and of the longest duration, were thofe of the 5th of February at 19 (according to the Italian way of counting the hours); of the 6th of February, at 7 hours in the night; of the 27th of February, at 11 in the morning; of the first of March, at 8 in the night; and that of the 28th of March, at 1 in the night. It was this laft fhock that affected moft the upper part of Calabria Ultra, and the lower part of the Citra, an authentic defcription of which you will fee hereafter, in a letter which I received from the Marquis Ippolito *, an accurate obferver refiding at Catanzaro in the upper Calabria. The firft and the laft fhocks must have been tremendous indeed, and only thefe two were fenfibly felt in this capital.

The accounts which this government has received from the province of Cofenza, are less melancholy than thofe from the province of Calabria Ultra. From Cape Suvero to the Cape of Cetraro on the western coaft, the in

land countries, as well as thofe on the coaft, are said to have fuffered more or lefs in proportion to their proximity to the supposed center of the earthquakes; and it has been constantly observed, that its greatest violence has been ex- ́ erted, and still continues to be fo, on the western fide of the Appennines, precifely the celebrated Sila of the ancient Brutii, and that all 'those countries fituated to the eastward of the Sila had felt the fhocks of the earthquake, but without having received any damage from them. In the province of Cofenza there does not appear to be above 100 lives lost. In the last accounts from the most afflicted part of Calabria Ultra, two fingular phenomena are mentioned. At about the distance of three miles from the ruined city of Oppido, there was a hill (the foil of which is a fandy clay) about 500 palms high, and 1300 in circumference at its bafis. It was faid, that this hill, by the shock of the 5th of February, jumped to the distance of about four miles from the fpot where it ftood into a plain called the Campo di Baffano. At the fame time the hill on which the town of Oppido flood, which extended about three miles, divided in two, and as its fituation was between two rivers, its ruins filled up the valley, and ftopped the courfe of those rivers; two great lakes are already formed, and are daily increafing, which lakes, if means are not found to drain them, and give the rivers their due coarse, in a fhort time must infect the air greatly.

From Sicily the accounts of the moft ferious nature were those of

the deftruction of the greateft part of the noble city of Mellina, by the fhock of the 5th of February, and of the remaining parts by the fubfequent ones; that the kay in the port had funk confiderably, and was in fome places a palm and a half under water; that the fuperb building, called the Palazzata, which gave the port a more magnificent appearance than any port in Europe can boaft of, had been entirely ruined; that the Lazaret had been greatly damaged; but that the citadel had fuffered little; that the mother church had fallen; in fhort, that Meffina was no more; that the tower at the point of the entrance of the Faro was half destroyed; and that the fame hot wave, that had done fuch mischief at Scilla, had paffed over the point of land at the Faro, and carried off about 24 people. The viceroy of Sicily likewife gave an account of fome damage done by the earthquakes, but nothing confiderable, at Melazzo, Patti, Terra di Santa Lucia, Caftro Reale, and in the ifland of Lipari.

In the course of his progrefs through Calabria, Sir William writes as follows:-"Soon after we had paffed through the ruined town of St. Pietro, we had a diftant view of Sicily, and the fummit of Mount Etna, which smoked confiderably. Just before, we arrived at Rofarno, near a ford of the river Mamella we paffed over a fwampy plain, in many parts of which I was fhewn fmall hollows in the earth, of the fhape of an inverted cone: they were covered with fand, as was the foil near them. I was told that, during the earthquake of the 5th of Fe

bruary, from each of these spots a fountain of water mixed with fand had been driven up to a confiderable height. I fpoke to a peafant here, who was prefent, and was covered with the water and fand; but affured me, that it was not hot, as had been reprefented. Before this appearance, he faid, the river was dry; but foon after returned and overflowed its banks. I afterwards found, that the fame phenomenon had been conftant with refpect to all the other rivers in the plain during the formidable fhock of the gth of February. I think this phenomenon is eafily explained, by fuppofing the first impulfe of the earthquake to have come from the bottom upwards, which all the inhabitants of the plain atteft to be fact; the surface of the plain fuddenly rifing, the rivers, which are not deep, would naturally disappear, and the plain, returning with violence to its for mer level, the rivers muft naturally have returned, and over flowed, at the fame time that the fudden depreffion of the boggy grounds would as naturally force out the water that lay hid under their furface. I obferved in the other parts where this fort of phenomenon had been exhibited, that the ground was always low and rufhy. Between this place and Rofarno we paffed the river Mesfano or Metauro (which is near the town above-mentioned) on a ftrong timber bridge, 700 palm long, which had been lately built by the Duke of Monteleone. From the cracks made on the banks and in the bed of the river by the earthquake, it was quite feparated in one part, and the level on which the piers were

E 2

placed

placed having been variously altered, the bridge has taken an undulated form, and the rail on each fide is curioufly fcolloped; but the parts that were feparated having been joined again, it is now passable. The duke's bridgeman told me alfo, that at the moment of the earthquake, this great river was perfectly dry for fome feconds, and then returned with violence, and overflowed; and that the bridge undulated in a moft extraordinary manner. When I mention the earthquake in the plain, it must be always undertood the firft fhock of the 5th of February, which was by far the moft terrible, and was the one that did the whole mifchief in the plain, without having given any previous notice. The town of Rofarno, with the Duke of Monteleone's palace there, was entirely ruined; but the walls remained about fix feet high, and are now fitting up as barracks. The mortality here did not much exceed 200 out of near 3000. It had been remarked at Rofarno, and the fame remark has been conftantly repeated to me in every ruined town that I have visited, that the male dead were generally found under the ruins in the attitude of ftruggling against the danger; but that the female attitude was ufually with hands clafped over their heads, as giving themselves up to defpair, unlefs they had children near them; in which cafe they were always found clafping the children in their arms, or in fome attitude which indicated their anxious care to protect them; a ftrong inftance of the maternal tenderness of the fex! The only building that re

2

mained unhurt at Rofarno was a ftrong built town gaol, in which were three notorious villains, who would probably have loft their lives had they been at liberty. After having dined in a barrack, the owner of which had loft five of his family by the earthquake, I proceeded to Laureana, often crofing the wide extended bed of the river Metauro. The environs of Laureana, which stands on an elevation, is the garden of Eden itfelf; nothing I ever faw can be compared to it. The town is confiderable; but as the earthquake did not come on fuddenly, as in the plain, not a life was loft there; but from a fickness, occafioned by hardships and fright, 52 have died fince. I lodged in the barracks of a fenfible gentleman of Mileto, Don Domenico Acquanetta, who is a principal proprietor of this town. He attended me the next day to the two tenements, called the Macini and Vaticano, mentioned in the former part of this letter, and which were faid to have changed their fituation by the earthquake. The fact is true, and easily accounted for. Thefe tenements were fituated in a valley furrounded by high grounds, and the furface of the earth, which has been removed, had been probably long undermined by little rivulets, which come from the mountains, and now are in full view on the bare fpot the tenements had deferted. Thefe rivulets have a fufficiently rapid courfe down the valley, to prove its not being a perfect level,, as was reprefented. I

fuppofe the earthquake to have opened fome depofitions of rainwater in the clay hills which fur

round

round the valley, which water, mixed with the loose foil, taking its courfe fuddenly through the undermined furface, lifting it up with the large olive and mulberrytrees, and a thatched cottage, floated the entire piece of ground, with all its vegetation, about a mile down the valley, where it now ftands, with most of the trees erect. These two tenements may be about a mile long, and half a mile broad. I was hewn feveral deep cracks in this neighbourhood, not one above a foot in breadth; but which, I was cre-dibly affured, had opened wide during the earthquake, and fwallowed up an ox, and near an hundred goats, but no countrymen, as was reported. In the valley above-mentioned I faw the fame fort of hollows in the form of inverted cones, out of which, I was affured, that hot water and fand had been emitted with violence during the earthquakes as at Rofarno; but I could not find any one who could pofitively affirm that the water had been really hot, although the reports which go vernment received affirm it. Some of the fand thrown out here with the water has a ferruginous appearance, and feems to have been acted upon by fire. I was told, that it had alfo, when fresh, a ftrong smell of fulphur, but I could not perceive it.

From hence I went through the fame delightful country to the town of Poliftene. To país through fo rich a country, and not fee a fingle houfe ftanding on it, is moft melancholy indeed; wherever a house stood, there you fee a heap of ruins, and a poor barrack, with two or three miferable mourning

figures fitting at the door, and here and there a maimed man, woman, or child, crawling upon crutches. Inftead of a town, you fee a confufed heap of ruins, and round about them a number of poor huts or barracks, and a larger one to ferve as a church, with the church bells hanging upon a fort of low gibbet; every inhabitant with a doleful countenance, and wearing fome token of having loft a parent.

I travelled four days in the plain, in the midst of such misery as cannot be defcribed. The force of the earthquake was fo great there, that all the inhabitants of the towns were buried either alive or dead under the ruins of their

houfes in an inftant. The town of Poliftene was large, but ill fituated between two rivers, fubject to overflow. 2100 out of about 6000 loft their lives here the fatal 5th of February. The Marquis St. Giorgio, the baron of this country, whom I found here, was well employed in affifting his tenants. He had caufed the streets of his ruined town to be cleared of rubbish, and had erected barracks on a healthy fpot near it, for the remainder of his subjects, and on a good plan. He had alfo conftructed barracks of a larger fize for the filk-worms, which I found already at work in them. This prince's activity and generofity is moft praife-worthy, and, as far as I have feen hitherto, he is without a rival. I obferved, that the town of St. Giorgio, on a hill about two miles from Poliftene, though rendered uninhabitable, was by no means levelled like the towns in the plain. There was a nunnery at Poliftene; being

E 3

curious