Ch. XXIX.] EARTHQUAKES IN SICILY, JAVA, CALABRIA. 



113 



^ 1790 



'iffi DIS- 



ACKED 

 LKTTI— 



.« J TO WKIi 



Wtes KX- 





- X 



t 



'^ 



'^■"' THE 

 ^ — PrPTH 



oys 



t^-c 



Lave next 



onlv can 

 s are pe- 

 ig of tlie 

 1 °n retro- 

 tlie last 



n 



3uito 



id foi 

 for 



the crater 



.•aceas i^ 

 'd^tneter; 



■j.,ui«^^^' 



a 



leo. 



14- 



Tl 



I 



same 



Niscemi, some miles from 



- Sicily, 1790. — Ferrara informs 

 3^ear (1790) at Santa Maria di 



Terrannova^ near the sontli coast, the grouiid sank down 

 dm'ing 7 shocks for a circumference of about 3 miles, and to 

 the depth in one place of 30 feet. The subsidence continued, 

 for a month, and several fissures sent forth sulphur, petro- 

 leum, steam and hot water, and a stream of mud flowed out 

 of one of them. The strata where this happened consisted 

 of blue clay, and the site is far distant from the region both 

 of ancient and modern volcanos in Sicily."^ 



Java, -1786. — During an earthquake in 1786 at Batur in 

 Java which was followed by a volcanic eruption, the river 

 Dotog entered one of several newly-formed rents, and con- 

 tinued after the shocks to pursue a subterranean course. 

 This fact, noticed by contemporary writers, was afterwards 

 verified bv Dr. Horsfield. 



■t 



EARTHQUAKE OF CALABRIA, 1783. 



Of all the subterranean convulsions of the last century, that 

 of Calabria in 1783 is almost the only one which has been so 

 circumstantially described as materially to aid the geologist 

 in appreciating the changes in the earth's crust which a lono- 

 repetition of similar events must produce in the lapse of ages. 

 The shocks began in February of that year, and lasted for 

 nearly 4 years, to the end of 1786. Neither in duration, nor 

 in violence, nor in the extent of territory moved, was this 

 convulsion remarkable, when contrasted with many expe- 

 rienced in other countries, botli. during the last and present 

 century ; nor were the alterations which it occasioned in the 

 relative level of hill and valley, land and sea, so great as those 

 effected by some subterranean movements in South AmenVa. 



times 



im 



circumstance 



example of a region visited, both during and after the convul- 



men T30ssessinp' sufficient 



m 



racy such physical facts as throw light on geological questions. 



* Ferrara, Campi. Fleg. p. 51 



VOL. n. 



I 



