EARTHQUAKES 



were the only things to be seen above this sea 

 of mud. 



"At intervals sudden quakes shook the ground to 

 a great depth. The shocks were so violent that 

 street pavements were torn from their beds and 

 leaped into the air. The masonry of wells flew out 

 from below the surface in one piece, like a small 

 tower thrown up from the earth. When the ground 

 rose and split open, houses, people, and animals 

 were instantly swallowed up; then, the ground sub- 

 siding a <ra in, the crevice closed once more, and, 

 without leaving a vestige, everything disappeared, 

 crushed between the two walls of the abyss as they 

 drew together. Some time afterward, when, after 

 the disaster, excavations were made in order to re- 

 cover valuable lost objects, the workmen observed 

 that the buried buildings and all that they contained 

 were one compact mass, so violent had been the 

 pressure of this sort of vise formed by the two edges 

 of the closed-up crevice. 



"The number of persons who perished in these 

 terrible circumstances is estimated at eighty thou- 

 sand. 



"Most of these victims were buried alive under 

 the ruins of their houses; others were consumed by 

 fires that sprang up in these ruins after each shock ; 

 others, fleeing across the country, were swallowed up 

 in the abysses that opened under their feet. 



"The sight of such calamities ought to have awak- 

 ened pity in the hearts of barbarians. And yet 

 who would believe it? except for a very few acts of 

 heroism, the conduct of the people was most infa- 



