

ALTERATIONS OF COAST LINE. 405 



the coast rose upwards of twenty feet during the terrible disturbance of 1538, reducing 

 the Lucrine lake to its present shallowness, and causing the sea to retreat from its former 

 limit. But evidence exists of repeated changes of level along this coast, which has ren- 

 dered it one of the most interesting and valuable regions to the geologist. Upon the 

 shore near Pozzuoli, there are three remaining pillars of an ancient building, commonly 

 called the Temple of Serapis, though antiquaries differ considerably respecting its cha- 

 racter. The pillars exhibit unequivocal signs of having once, and for a long period, been 

 immersed in the waves, exhibiting marks of the dactylides, a species of shell-fish which 

 bumnvs in the stone. The lower and upper parts of the columns are uninjured, the former 

 having been protected by accumulations of rubbish, and the latter having been above the 

 level of the water ; but a zone in the middle, twelve feet in height, is every where pierced 

 by marine perforating bivalves. " The holes of these animals are pear-shaped, the 

 external opening being minute, and gradually increasing downwards. At the bottom of 

 the cavities, many shells are still found, notwithstanding the great numbers that have 

 been taken out by visitors. The perforations are so considerable in depth and size, that 

 they manifest a long-continued abode of the lithodomi in the columns ; for as the inhabit- 

 ant grows older, and increases in size, it bores a larger cavity, to correspond with the 

 increasing magnitude of its shell. We must consequently infer a long-continued immer- 

 sion of the pillars in sea-water, at a time when the lower part was covered up and pro- 

 tected by strata of tuff and the rubbish of buildings, the highest part at the same time 

 projecting above the waters, and being consequently weathered, but not materially 

 injured." It thus seems to be settled, almost to demonstration, that the floor of this 

 temple or building, of course originally placed upon a site above the reach of the sea, has 

 subsided so as to have sunk below the level of its waters, and afterwards been elevated 

 again an oscillation shared by the adjacent district. Captain Hall was shown, near the 

 remains of an amphitheatre, what are called the ruins of Cicero's Villa a mass of 

 rubbish upon the dry land at the foot of the cliff, considerably above the present level of 

 the sea, the guide describing the orator as having fished out of his parlour window. 

 However doubtful the identity of the spot, it is perfectly possible for such a fact to have 

 transpired ; and, as the narrator observes, the gossip of the guide shows the established 

 belief, and carries with it great interest, as corroborating the supposition that the ground 

 has been raised by the volcanic forces which we know to be in action in that quarter. 

 Loffredo, writing in 1580, is quoted by Mr. Lyell as affirming thatj fifty years previously, 

 the sea washed the base of the hills which rise from the level strip of land before alluded 

 to, and expressly stating that a person " might have fished " then from the site of the 

 ruins of the amphitheatre. 



An elevation of the coast transpired upon a grand scale during the great Chilian earth- 

 quake in 1822, so well described by Mrs. Graham, who was then a resident in that 

 country. Upon the night of its occurrence, attracted by the fineness of the evening, she 

 had been sitting in her verandah, watching the lightning which played uninterruptedly 

 over the Andes till after dark, when a delightful calm moonlight night followed a quiet 

 and moderately warm day. It was so pleasant, that she quitted the verandah with regret, 

 and returned into the house, where she sat quietly conversing with her friends till about 

 a quarter past ten, when they were all sensible of a violent shock, and heard a noise like 

 the explosion of a mine. One of the party started up, exclaiming, " An earthquake ! an 

 earthquake ! " and ran out of the house ; but another - a connexion of the relator was 

 in delicate health, and unfit to be exposed to the night air, and she, unwilling to leave 

 him, remained. In a little time the motion of the earth, increasing, threw down the 

 chimneys, and the walls of the house opened. The urgency of the danger now overcame 

 lesser fears, and every body fled for refuge to the lawn. In a few minutes, the quick 



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