164 ON THE REVOLUTIONS 



"district, situated along the western coast, behind which there 

 rises a ridge of primitive mountains. VVlaen the terrible earth- 

 quake of 1783 took place, a very extraordinary circumstance 

 happened, the remains of which I went to see in 1785, and 

 found it corresponding to Dolomieu's description. A naked 

 scar of red earth, facing the plain, made its appearance upon 

 the primitive mass, all along the line of junction between the 

 two ; this scar being ten or fifteen feet high, and appearing al- 

 most universally in a tract of many miles. Dolomieu has gi- 

 ven an ingenious theory of this phenomenon, whicli appeared 

 to me satisfactory at the time. He supposes, that in conse- 

 quence of the agitation of the alluvial mass by the earthquake, 

 it had undergone a subsidence, or tassement (as it is expressed 

 in French), similar to what happens when a bushel of wheat is 

 struck by the hand ; and that in consevquence of the subsidence 

 of the loose country, the firm country had been left behind, I 

 am now, however, inclined to suggest a different explanation 

 of the same fact, and to connect it, by analogy, with some of 

 those lately mentioned, by conceiving that the middle, or rocky 

 mass, may have been raised, leaving the alluvial mass behind 

 it and that its motion has been the proximate cause of the 

 earthquake. It may further be observed, in favour of this 

 view, that if the alluvial mass did subside in the manner point- 

 ed out by DoLo:\iiEu, the districts in the neighbourhood of the 

 sea must have been submerged. It would have been easy, if 

 such a conjecture had occurred on the spot, to bring it to the 

 test of observation ; for the opposite side of the coast of the 

 peninsula must have furnished some facts either in confirma- 

 tion or refutation of the idea. I mention it here, as a hint to 

 future travellers, in tracing the result of earthquakes. 



I cannot too strongly recommend to geological travellers, the 

 examination of those scenes where earthquakes, and their at- 

 tendant 



