142 Destruction of Zante ly an Earthquake. 



that they miglit be published when of sufficient interest ! Per- 

 haps an appeal from yourself would tend much to attain so desi- 

 rable an object. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



S. H. Christie. 



Extract of a Letter dated Corfu, January \{)th 1821. 



** I have only one piece of news to give you, which is a very sad 

 one, and which perhaps you will have heard before this letter 

 reaches you, — the destruction of Zante by an earthquake. On 

 the twenty-ninth, at three in the morning, we had a very smart 

 shock here, which however did no damage, and, as they are very 

 frequent, little notice was taken of it ; but the first boats from 

 Zante brought up news, that on the same morning, at about 

 twenty minutes before four, they experienced a most violent 

 shock, which overthrew a great many houses. The people all 

 ran into the streets, and most into the church of St. Dionysius, 

 the ])atron saint ; but scarce had they been there a short time 

 when another shock, much stronger than the first, came and 

 finished what the other had left undone. Upwards of a thousand 

 houses are much injured ; five hundred, or more, so much so tbat 

 they are obliged to pull them down ; and numbers totally over- 

 thrown. Providentially very few lives were lost, only ten; but 

 many people severely wounded and bruised. The escape of the 

 officers of the 3Gth regiment was most miraculous. They had 

 given a great party to the gentlemen of Zante, and broke up only 

 ten minutes before the earthquake ; the house was thrown down 

 to its very foundation. The bouse of Cavalier Bulga, the finest 

 in the town, is also destroyed, together with a most valuable li- 

 brary. 



" What rendered the state of these unfortunate people much 

 more lamentable, was that, immediately after, a most violent hur- 

 ricane arose, accompanied by such a shower of hail as has never 

 before been experienced. You must not accuse me of exaggera- 

 tion, for I copy our official dispatches, when I tell you that the 

 hailstones were an inch and a half in diameter, and weighed nearly 

 three ounces. This shower lasted some time, and then changed 

 to violent torrents of rain : two people were drowned in the 

 streets : and to complete all, the sea rose and carried away two 

 more houses. The house of Sir Patrick Ross the governor is 

 half down. Lord Strangford (the English ambassador) and his 

 Ladv, notwithstanding the hurricane, were obliged to go on board 

 the Cambrian frigate, which when the dispatches came away 

 was not expected to ride out the gale. 



" Only conceive the misery of these poor people, who, afraid 

 to return into their houses, and many without any to return to, 

 were exposed three days and nights in the open air to such dread- 

 ful 



