ic. 



5^\l.v 



*4 



ki 





e 



i'l-obl 



^1)1. 



'! alternate 



T 



nid 



may 



']^ partially 



istbehv 



Id it 



ii 



centre 



'^'^ards was 

 15 call the 



•'■'wl Yards. 



8^111 e towns 



Ti d found 

 S6 <**-«'. we 



l.M the mo- 



adhesion of 



:L. other, a 



^la'D the 



ni s> 'i'^"- 



.vliat 



, It p 



jir-lied 



leriac 



st. 



1 with the 

 ions in tl>^ 



ii-r and 



nth that of 



of tb^ 



K^I^^ IP- 



Ch. XXIX.] 



EPFECTS OF CALABEIAN EAETIIQUAKE. 



121 



has undergone anj change, unless tlie sea-coast happens to 



movem 



Even tlien it 



■mine 



pression even of several feet lias occurred, because there is 

 nothing to attract notice in a band of shingle and sand of un- 

 equal breadth above the level of the sea running parallel to 

 a coast ; such bands generally marking the point reached by 

 the waves during spring tides, or the most violent tempests. 

 The scientific investigator has not sufficient topographical 

 knowledge to discovei- whether the extent of beach has di- 

 minished or increased ; and he who has the necessary local 

 information scarcely ever feels any interest in ascertaining 



amount 



Add to this the 



making- 



of the enormous waves which roll in upon a coast during an 

 earthquake, and efface every landmark near the shore. 



It is evidently in seaports alone that we can look for very 

 accurate indications of slight changes of level ; and when we 



that thev would not be rare at 



sume 



other points, if equal facilities of comparing relative altitudes 

 were afforded. Grimaldi states (and his account is confirmed 

 by Hamilton and others), that at Messina, in Sicily, the shore 

 was rent ; and the soil along the port, which before the shock 

 was perfectly level, was found afterwards to be inclined to- 

 wards the sea,— 

 deeper, and its bottom in several places disordered. The 



qnay also sunk down about 14 inches beloAV the level of the 



-the sea itself near the ' Branchia^ becoming 



much 



■mmm 



these changes were superficial only, and due to the sliding 

 down or settling of the soil, or whether they were connected 



movements 



and land. 



Among various proofs of partial elevation and depression 

 in the interior, the Academicians mention, in their Survey, 

 that the ground was sometimes on the same level on both 

 sides of new ravines and fissures, but sometimes there had 



^ Phil. Trans. 1783. 



A f' 



