464 Earthquake. Avalanche. 
habitants was any former shock so violent or of so long dum 
tion. It appeared that an eruption followed by a thick and. 
black smoke burst from the mountain of Louvie, three leagues 
from Oleren. Some large rocks were detached from the moun- 
tain, and their fall killed five cows and demolished a house, The 
second shock was so violent that several houses at Gand, on the 
road to Pace, were destroyed. Here 2 great number of chim- 
neys were thrown down, and terror filled every breast. ~The 
churehes were in an instant crowded with the flying inhabitants, 
and a young girl was crushed to death in the attempt to gain 
an asylum.” 
A similar shock was perceived at Marmand. on the same day. 
and at the same hour. It was from west to east, and was pre=: 
ceded by a clap of thunder in the west, accompanied by large 
black clouds. ‘he shock lasted two seconds. 
Some travellers recently arrived from Wallachia have brought, 
an account of a terrible calamity which has befallen the inhabi- 
tants of Oybestein. This district, one of the most populous in 
the country, was situated in the neighbourhood of several lofty _ 
mountains ; some of these were cultivated to their summits, and > 
the sides were covered with the dwellings of the natives; .the 
base of the highest, however, is supposed to have been sapped 
by the long rains. On the night of the 20th of April, while the 
inhabitants, unsuspicious of such a calamity, were buried in re- 
pose, the peak called the Devil’s Neck descended with a noise 
resembling -an earthquake, and overwhelmed in its progress ~ 
houses, forests, and innumerable cattle. The concussion was 
so frightful, that the inhabitants of the adjacent villages started 
from their beds, and were seen renning nakedfrom their habi- 
tations to seek safety in the plains. The extent of this ca- 
lamity had not been ascertained ; but it was supposed that 400 
persons had been buried beneath the ponderous fragments, which 
extended and covered a mile of ground. The general distress 
was much increased by the groans which were heard issuing 
from the ruins four days after the avalanche. 
M. Sergel, the celebrated Swedish sculptor, died lately at 
Stockholm at the age of 74. He had resided nearly twenty 
years at Rome, and was a member of the Academy of Painting 
and Sculpture at Paris, and of the French Institute. His prifi- 
cipal works are the groupe of Psyche and Love, and that of Mars 
and Venus, the monument erected to Descartes in’ one of the 
churches at Stockholm, and the statue of Gustavus II[. placed 
near the palace. M. Sergel has left several pupils behind him, 
one of whom (M. Bystroem) has obtained a pension to enable 
him 
