SOME FAMOUS EARTHQUAKES 



is said to have washed not only the coasts of Portugal 

 and Spain, but to have extended with destructive violence 

 to other countries. At Kinsale, in Ireland, it was strong 

 enough to whirl vessels about in the harbour and to 

 pour into the market-place, and it was of great violence 

 also at the island of Madeira. Portions of the sea-coast 

 between Cape-da-Roca and Cape Carvociro fell away 

 into the sea, and the damage was very great along the 

 coast between Cape St. Vincent and the mouth of the 

 Guadiana. The great Sierra da Estrella, on the west of 

 the Tagus valley, was split and rent in a most remarkable 

 manner, and threw down avalanches of rock into the 

 valley. 



The great earthquake which shook Calabria and North- 

 Eastern Sicily in the year 1783 stands out in rather 

 striking contrast with other disturbances of history, be- 

 cause it was carefully studied by a great number of 

 skilled observers. Among them were Vivenzio, the court 

 physician of the King of Naples, who has supplied us 

 with a narrative of the events; Grimaldi, the Minister 

 of War,, who at the King's command visited the region 

 and has left accurate measurements of the greater and 

 lesser fissures associated with the earthquake ; Pignaturo, 

 a physician, who kept a record of the long-continuing 

 shocks, together with an estimate of their intensities ; 

 the French geologist Dolomieu ; and Sir William Hamil- 

 ton, who was the British Ambassador at Naples. The 

 Academy of Naples sent a special commission to the 

 scene of the earthquake's destruction, and prepared a 

 bulky report of great scientific value. Calabria is a 



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