EARTHQ, UAKES. 2$$ 



In this earthquake 40,000 persons are supposed to 

 have perished, and about 20,000 by the epidemics 

 which followed. Dolomieu gives a painful account of 

 the appearance of the Calabrian cities. 'When I 

 passed over to Calabria,' he writes, ' and first beheld 

 Polistena, the scene of horror almost deprived me of 

 my faculties ; my mind was filled with mingled horror 

 and compassion ; nothing had escaped ; all was levelled 

 with the dust ; not a single house or piece of wall 

 remained ; on all sides were heaps of stone so destitute 

 of form that they afforded no idea of there having ever 

 been a town on this spot. The stench of the dead 

 bodies still arose from the ruins. I conversed with 

 many persons who had been buried for three, four, or 

 even five days ; I questioned them respecting their 

 sensations in so dreadful a situation, and they agreed 

 that, of all the physical evils they endured, thirst was 

 the most intolerable ; and that their mental agony 

 was increased by the idea that they were abandoned by 

 their friends, who might have rendered them assist- 

 ance.' 



The destruction of the Prince of Scilla and a great 

 number of his vassals, was one of the most remarkable 

 events attending this deplorable catastrophe. He had 

 persuaded his servants to seek their fishing-boats for 

 safety, and went with them to encourage them. During 

 the night of February 5th, while they were sleeping, 

 an enormous mass of earth was flung from Mount Jaci 

 upon the plain near which the boats were moored. 

 Immediately the sea rose more than twenty feet above 



