146  Sulmersion of the Village af Stron, in Bohemia. 
the village descended along the gorge parallel to the Eger, to- 
wards the N.W. This hill contains beds of an earthy pit-coal 
that spread through the country, and are covered with strata of 
sand and alluvion. The Eger flows at the distance of about 200 
toises from Stron. Previous to the accident, it formed a bay 
alongside of Stron, edged with hills of moving sand, not very 
lofty, but steep. On the higher part of the declivity were a num- 
ber of springs, that were quickly lost in the sands. 
These springs have proved the cause of a calamity, which, in 
these countries, where glaciers and earthquakes are unknown, 
may be deemed unique in its kind. The water of the springs has 
gradually perforated large subterranean cavities in the strata of 
sand, so that, at length, the whole surface of the soil, with the 
church, the houses and the gardens, rested only on some detach- 
ed columns of sand that were daily diminishing. Whether sub- 
terranean combustions of pit-coal may not have co-operated, is 
a point hitherto undecided, 
For a length of time the earth had been sinking in ‘different 
places. Crevices appeared in the walls of the buildings; the 
doors would no longer shut, and some weeks ago a great noise 
was heard in the middle of the night. The people are roused 
- from their sleep; a singular movement of the earth advancing 
forward, and at the same time sinking, is observed. ‘The inha- 
bitants flee, remove their cattle, &c. and at some distance from 
the village wait for the morning. Its appearance displays an 
image of destruction ; half of the village had disappeared; where 
no houses had ever been, roofs and chimnies were seen rising 
from the ground. The hill, the chureh, and the parsonage, were 
no longer to be found; and at some distance appeared a chaos 
of parcels of earth intermixed with ruins and crevices. 
The church is 80 feet below the site it formerly occupied ; it 
is divided into two, half of it buried in ruins. Here lies a steeple 
overthrown, and there a confused medley of statues, images of 
saints, stables, &c. The river is thrown out of its channel, and 
where it formed a bay, there is now an accumulation of earth. 
The churchyard is thrown into a shapeless heap, and the whole 
territory bears auother aspect. In different patches are seen layers 
of a fat earth, over which the sand has glided. It seems that the 
Eger must have crumbled the props on which the hill stood, as 
they had ever an inclination towards the river. : 
A number of things have been fortunately preserved, and, with 
the exception of some cattle, no lives were lost. Fifteen houses 
_are yet standing; but the soil is insecure, and the downfall will 
. probably be universal. rig. 
I was at a loss, at first, to recognise the country; and from 
the inhabitants 1 could only learn that they had been disturbed 
by 
