136 Geological Gleanings. 



deep ravine, we found the road on the opposite side carried off 

 200 feet distant from its former position : the mountain above it 

 had been cleft in two, revealing- to a great depth the limestone 

 caverns in the bowels of the earth. The ground was seamed with 

 fissures ; and we could put our arms into them up to the should- 

 ers. Polla has a population of 7,000 persons : — 1,000 had fallen 

 victims, of whom 567 had been dug up and buried ; the work of 

 disinterment was continuing slowly, but the stench here and else- 

 where, from the bodies, was insufferable. Three shocks of an 

 earthquake were felt on this day, January 1. The first was very 

 early in the morning ; the second about half-past 12. When we 

 were standing on the ruins of a church, the ground began to 

 heave under our feet and the subterranean thunders to roll. We 

 immediately fled from the spot, but were nearly overwhelmed as 

 the wall of a bell-tower fell close upon our heels, and a leaning 

 house, in an inclining state, came down within twenty feet of us. 

 The frightened people immediately formed a procession, and head- 

 ed by the priests, bearing the crucifix and an image of the Ma- 

 donna, lashed themselves with ropes as they walked. On leaving 

 the town, we rested on the wall of a bridge just outside, where 

 some priests begged us to rise, saying we were in danger, for the 

 ground was continually trembling. Whilst sitting there, we felt 

 the third shock, and required no other hint." At the last moment 

 I add, from official documents, that upwards of 30,000 are re- 

 turned as dead, and 250,000 living in the open air." 



Habits of the Beaver. — To include an account of these among 

 geological notices, is hardly an anachronism, since over a large 

 part of the continent the beaver is an extinct animal, and it is 

 rapidly becoming so wherever European colonization penetrates. 



The following interesting notes are from the Journal of the Aca- 



. . . • 



demy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia : — 



" Mr. Harris observed, in relation to the specimens of cotton- 

 wood and chips cut by beavers, presented this evening, that they 

 had been obtained by him from the Missouri River, between Fort 

 Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, and Fort Clark, at the 

 Mandan Village. He added, that in returning from a trip up the 

 Missouri to the mouth of the Yellowstone, in company with the 

 late J. J: Audubon and party, in the month of September, 1843, 

 our Mackinaw boat was moored for the night on the right bank 

 of the river, under shelter of timber on the bank, which was here 

 about twenty feet above the water at its then rather low stage. 



