DOMAIN XI. DECOMPOSED. 



To this account of honest Grouner, Bourrit 

 has added, as usual, some picturesque circum- 

 stances. 



" This ruin happened on the 25d of Septem- 

 ber ; the weather was calm, the sky clear ; the 

 cattle were feeding peaceably under the shadow 

 of these rocks; the goats, sheep, and lamhs 

 were playing in the pasture. The shepherds 

 and shepherdesses were diverting themselves 

 with innocent games ; nothing happened to fore- 

 warn them of their terrible fate, when the 

 mountain suddenly fell, and buried under its 

 ruins shepherds, cattle, pasturages, and huts. 

 The fragments of the rocks, which extended for 

 two leagues; the smoke, which covered the sky 

 with thick darkness ; and the horrid noise, which 

 the neighbouring mountains increased by deep 

 and repeated echoes; all seemed to announce 

 total ruin to the vicinity. The surprise, the 

 terror, the lamentable outcries of men and qua- 

 drupeds, the disordered and tumultuous flight of 

 birds, spread the alarm to a distance; and all 

 fled from places which they could no longer 

 know, and where they could not hope for safety. 

 This terrible ruin destroyed considerable woods, 

 which served as ramparts against the avalanches 

 of snow, at present so dreadful and destructive. 

 The rivulets which came from the mountain have 



