236 Earthquakes in Sicily. 
‘hearer the surface. Every one may easily mere mae = 
difference which ‘subsists between the. superficial m 
the raahen were it ae for it to collect in + thi midst 
of so many conducting bodies which seem designed to re- 
store the equilibrium instantly; between this motion and the 
deep, heavy earthquake, armed with such terrible power, 
which agitates so violently a great exient of the globe, which 
sometimes seetis ready to esiny it from its very foundation, and 
which bas all the characters of an effect sprung from most 
wonderful degrees of force, and of foree which, placed deep 
) the earth, moves nS convulses those great masses lying 
BAER. it and the su 
he idea of forces eee effects like these, fills with fear the 
miserable mortal who creeps upon the face of the earth, and 
brings his pride down to the dust. When he sees the earth 
reel, and the great fabrics which he has raised with so much 
confidence, rushing to ruin, he Seasons of finding any where 
one firm support to his frail existe 
The chinks and fissures forced | in many places, and to 
which the vulgar attribute much importance, are in conse- 
quence of the quaking of the soil, and to which the softness 
of the earth and the loss of its internal support have given 
place. The country of Bosco about Ogliastro, of which I 
have already spoken, became furrowed with diverse, jong, 
tortuous, deep clefts, the sides of which in some places sun 
down ; in other places, portions of the surface passed down 
over inclined plains below them, and took new positions ; the 
tera which some of Sager carried with ess oat were 
away he earth, and sertidd a pee part of it into rhe intern: 
tavities below ; the surface, thus wanting solid support. under 
the shock of the earthquake became filled with he ae 
ferns, and inequalities. The same may be said of a great 
aperture made in the vicinity of Colesano, which dilating it- 
sell day after day tened to render those places inacces- 
sible. Copious showers alone produce sueh effects in the 
