EARTHQUAKES AND OTHER SEISMIC MOVEMENTS. 313 



latter. In Italy the houses are left to take their chances. In South 

 America, where much exposed to earthquakes, they are built of only 

 one story, or of bamboo and ropes, similarly to the Japanese plan. One 

 of the safest houses for an earthquake country would probably be a 

 one-storied, strongly framed timber house, with a light, flattish roof, 



Fig- 7. Webber House, San Francisco, Octoeer 21, 1868. 



made of shingles or sheet-iron, the whole resting on a quantity of 

 small cast-iron balls carried on flat plates bedded in the foundations. 

 The chimneys might be made of sheet-iron, carried through holes free 

 of the roof. The ornamentation ought to be of light materials. The 

 nature of the ground on which the house is built does not always 



Fig. 8. Stud Mill at Hatwards, California, October 21, 1868. 



appear to be in itself a matter of prime moment. Its relations with 

 other foundations are more important. In some places solid strata, 

 in others soft strata, appear to afford the more favorable situations ; 

 and the superiority of either probably depends on a variety of local 

 circumstances. Places near the junction of the two kinds of forma- 



