thing but fulphur, iron, foffil coals, petroleum, and other bituminous and combustible matters. The quantity of hefe minerals muit neceffarily occafion fermentations and fubterraneous fires, and it is good for us that we have fo many volcances in the neighbourhood, to ferve as chimnies, and afford outlets to the fire which forms under our feet.

evening. These four eruptions coming, as nearly as we can judge by the phenomena and effects, from the chain of mountains which extend from Reggio hitherwards, have produced four different explosions in four different parts of Calabria. The three former were in that part of the province in which your excellency now is, and that which you must pafs through in your journey to Meffina. Thefe explofions have produced various great effects;

I have kept a regular account from the day of the firft fhock of the 5th of February, not only of the convulfions fuffered by the earth, but likewife of all the meteors obferved in the atmosphere, This the fhortnefs of time will not allow me to tranfmit to your excellency; but the fum of it is, that from the 5th of February to this inftant the fhocks have been more frequent, and almost every day repeated. At times the earth fhook as it ufually does on these occafions; but at others the motion was undulatory, and at others vorticofe, during which laft ftate it refembled a ship toffed about in a high fea. The most confiderable of these repeated earthquakes were thofe which took place on the 5th of February, at 19 Itatalian time; on the 7th, about 20; on the 28th, about 8 of the night; and finally on the 28th of March, about 1 in the

mountains, immenfe breaks in the earth, new collections of waters, old rivulets funk in the earth and difperfed, rivers ftopped in their courfe, foils levelled, fmall mountains which exifted not before formed, plants rooted up, and carried to confiderable distances from their firft fite, large portions of earth rolling about through confiderable diftricts, animals and men fwallowed up by the earthbut I abstain from entering into a minute account of these disasters; your excellency will fee them with your own eyes; and affifted by the relations of ocular and faithful witneffes, no doubt, form a faithful hiftory of them. One thing, however, I may not forbear to communicate, and that is, that of all thefe calamities, the greatest and most extraordinary was that which happened on the banks of Scilla and Bagnara. That part of the fea which confiderably overflowed in these marfhes, and fwallowed up a great number of people who had taken refuge there, was fo hot that it fcalded feveral of those who were faved, This I had from the mouth of the most excellent Vicar General,

But

But I will confine myself to a fhort narrative of the effects of the laft explosion of the 28th of March, which, without a doubt, muft have arifen from an internal fire in the bowels of the earth in thefe parts, as it took place precifely in the mountains which crofs the neck of our peninfula which is formed by the two rivers, the Lameto which runs into the gulph of St. Euphemia, and the Corace, which runs into the Ionian fea, and properly into the bay of Squillace. That the thing was fo is evident from all the phenomena.

This fhock, like all the rest, came to us in the direction of the S.W. At first the earth began to undulate, then it fhock, and finally it moved in a vorticofe direction, fo that many perfons were not able to ftand upon their feet. This terrible concuffion lafted about ten feconds; it was fucceeded by others which were lefs ftrong, of lefs duration, and only undulatory; fo that, during the whole night, and for half the next day, the earth was continually fhaken, at first every five minutes, afterwards every quarter of an hour.

A terrible groan from under ground preceded this convulfion, lafted as long as it did, and final. ly ended with an intenfe noife, Jike the thunder of a mine that takes effect. Thefe mighty thun. derings accompanied not only the fhocks of that night and of the fucceeding day, but all the others which have taken place fince that time: moreover, groans have fometimes been heard without any shakes of the earth, and prior to the 28th of March there were noifes and crackings which exactly

refembled the bursting of fo many bombs.

The air was covered with clouds, and the wefterly gales blew very fresh. These were stilled in one minute before the horrid crash; but in one moment after they blew again, and then were ftill. There were, however, frequent and fudden changes of the atmosphere during the whole night, the heavens being alternately cloudy and ferene, and different winds blowing, though they all came from between fouthweft.

At the time of the earthquake, during the night, flames were feen to iffue from the ground in the neighbourhood of this city towards the fea, where the explosion extended, fo that many countrymen ran away for fear; these flames iffued exactly from a place where fome days before an extraordinary heat had been perceived.

After the great concuffion there appeared in the air, towards the eaft, a whitish flame, in a flant. ing direction; it had the appearance of electric fire, and was feen for the space of two hours.

In confequence of the terrible fhock, many countries and cities, especially thofe fituated in the neighbourhood and neck of our peninfula as you go from Tiriolo to the river Angitola, and which had fuffered nothing before, were overturned. Curinga, Maida, Cortale, Girifalco, Borgia, St. Floro, Settingiano, Marcellinara, Tiriolo, and other countries of lefs importance, were almost entirely destroyed, but with the lofs of very few people. Many hundreds, however, perifhed in Maida, Cortale, and Borgia,

The

The fame effects which took place in the country your excellency is now in were likewife produced by the earthquake in these parts. Many hills were divided or laid level; many apertures were made in the furface of the earth throughout the whole furface which lies between the two vallies occupied by the rivers Corace and Lameto, as you go towards Angitola. Out of many of thefe apertures a great quantity of water coming either from the fubterraneous concentrations, or the rivers themselves in the neighbourhood of which the ground broke up, fpouted during feveral hours. From one of thefe openings in the territory of Borgia, diftant about a mile from the fea, there came out a large quantity of falt water which imitated the motions of the fea itself for several days. Warm water likewife if fued from the apertures made in the plains of Maida; but I cannot fay whether this was of a mineral quality, or heated by the fame fubterraneous fire.

We must likewife take notice, that there came from the fame fiffures out of which the water iffued fome very thin earth, either of a white, grey, or yellow fort, which from its extreme tenuity had all the appearance of a true fand. I have seen only the grey, in which there was evidently a mixture of iron.

It has also been obferved, that in all the fandy parts, where the explosion took place, there were obferved, from diftance to diftance, apertures in the form of an inverted cone, out of which likewife there came water. This feems to prove that from thence

efcaped a flake of electric fire. Fiffures of this kind are particularly met with along the banks of the Lameto, from the place where it goes into the fea hitherwards for many a mile.

Amidst the various phenomena, which either preceded or followed the earthquake, the two former are remarkable. On the very day of the earthquake, the water of a well in Maida, which heretofore people used to drink, was infected with fo difguftful a fulphureous tafte, that it was impoffible even to smell to it. On the other hand, at Catanzaro the water of a well, which before could not be ufed because of a smell of calcination that it had, became fo pure as to be drunk extremely well. In Maida itself many fountains were dried up by the earthquake of the 28th. This likewife happened at other places; but many alfo broke out in feveral fpots where there had been none before, as did alfo feveral mineral fprings, of which before there was not a veftige. This happened at Cropani, a country of the Marchefato. Commonly, however, the fountains became more fwelled and more copious, and emitted a larger volume of water than ufual.

The waters of fome fountains were also observed to be troubled, and to affume a whitish or yellowish colour, according to the countries through which they paffed.

Many elevations of foil likewife took place in confequence of the earthquake. The most notable was that which happened in the bed of the river of Borgia, where there was feen a new hillock, about ten palms high, about twenty palms

.

palms at the base, and about two hundred palms long. Finally, in the neighbourhood of the river Lameto, and precifely in the diftrict of the country called Amato, which was entirely torn up by the earthquake, there is an olive ground, the furface of which is turned over in a vorticofe direction; a phenomenon which likewife obtained in many other parts of the country.

Such are the most notable phenomena of the earthquake of the 28th of March in these countries which have hitherto reached my notice. I think myself, however, obliged to notice to your excellency, that this extraordinary cataftrophe of our afflicted province was preceded by great and extraordinary frofts in the winter of 1782; by an extraordinary drought and infufferable heats in the fpring of the fame year; and by great, copious, and continued rains, which began in autumn, and continued to the end of January. Thefe rains were accompanied by no thunder or lightning, nor were any winds hardly ever heard in thefe cities where they are ufed to blow very fresh during all this time; but at the beginning of the earthquake they all feemed to break loofe together, accompanied with hail and rain. For a long time before the earth fhook, the fea appeared confiderably agitated, fo as to frighten the fishermen from venturing upon it, without there being any vifible winds to make it fo. Our volcanoes too, as I am confidently affured, emitted no eruptions for a confiderable time before; but there was an eruption of Etna in the fra earthquake, and Stromboli

SIR,

A

Gunton, near Aylfham, Norfolk, August 22, 1782.

Few months after you did me the honour of presenting my minutes of agriculture to the British Mufeum, I came down into Norfolk, as agent to Sir Harbord Harbord.

To a perfon intelligent in matters of agriculture it would be fuperfluous to fay, that Norfolk is celebrated for good husbandmen; or that the turnip crop is the bafis of the Norfolk husbandry. If a Norfolk farmer lofes his crop of turnips, his farm is injured for feveral fucceeding years; for it is not only the lofs of the immediate profit, which would otherwise have arifen to him from his bullocks, but his land is deprived of the confequent manure and trampling (esteemed highly beneficial to the light lands of this county) on which his future crops of corn are effentially dependant.

Among the numerous enemies to which turnips are liable, none have proved more fatal here than the black canker (a fpecies of caterpillar) which in fome years have been fo numerous as to cut off the farmer's hopes in a few days. In

other