Ag 55 Sas ema 
DSR age erat i= 
Asie Se 
Geology. 281 
state of chronic eruption for nearly two years, and the wells at Resina 
for the last. few months nearly dried up, I have already noted; that the 
no 
shocks of earthquake, may not be so generally known, but such is th 
and to those signs of impending danger the Official Journal of the 
80th of December adds the following: “The Syndié of Salandro (one of 
Communes which has suffered much from the recent scourge) reports 
that for nearly a month at about two miles distance from the town a gas 
has been observed to issue from a water-course ; the temperature of it 
Was about that of the sun. A few days siuce, too, from another similar 
osse, the same kind of gas issued. These exhalations were observed 
oe ii the morning, however; during the rest of the day they were not 
ceptible. On the 22d of December, they ceased altogether, and there 
was an expectation that hot mineral springs would burst forth from that 
able fact. In the territory of Bella, about two miles from the town, the 
farthquake on the night of the 16th of Decembeevelled the neighboring 
hills, rolled the earth over and over, and formed deep valleys. Half an hour 
Same in width. A letter from Vallo, now lying before me, and writ- 
ten much in detail, speaks of “ those two terrible shocks,” and of the in- 
Humerable minor shocks which have continued from the 16th of Decem- 
up to the present time—the letter being written on the 29th of De- 
rember. “A few minutes before the first shock,” adds the writer, “a 
hissing Sound was heard in the river, as if vast masses of stones were 
ae brought down by a torrent. It is to be noted, too, that all the 
* ei the neighborhood howled immediately before the first awful 
Let us visit some of the ruined places at the centre of the disaster a 
: : and [ wil] speak in the words of a gentleman who has just returned: “ 
eecp > Jisit to Polla. Once a beautifully situated township, with 7,000. 
Is, itis now half in ruins, and the survivors were 0g 
ic nee eee ee On the aight of the 26th of De- 
pon 
SEConp SERIES, VOL. XXV, NO. 714,——-MARCH., 1858. 
36 
is 
