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I 



Ch, XXIX.] 



INCIDENTS AT TERRANUOVA. 



141 



my faculties ; my mind was filled with mingled compassion 

 and terror ; nothing* had escaped ; all was levelled with the 

 dust ; not a single house or piece of wall remained ; on all 

 sides were heaps of stone so destitute of form^ that they gave 

 no conception of there ever having been a town on the spot. 

 The stench of the dead bodies still rose from the ruins. I 

 conversed with many persons who had been buried for three^ 

 four, or even for five days ; I questioned them respecting 

 their sensations in so dreadful a situation, and they agreed 

 that, of all the physical evils they endured, thirst was the 

 most intolerable ; and that their mental agony was increased 

 by the idea that they were abandoned by their friends, who 

 might have rendered them assistanceV "^^ 



It is supposed that about a fourth part of the inhabitants 

 of Polistena, and of some other towns, were buried alive, and 

 might have been saved had there been no want of hands ; 

 but in so general a calamity, where each was occupied with 

 his own misfortunes or those of his family, aid could rarely be 

 obtained. Neither tears, nor supplications, nor promises of 

 high rewards were listened to. Many acts of self-devotion, 



prompted by parental and conjugal tenderness, or by friend- 

 ship, or the gratitude of faithful servants, are recorded; but 

 individual exertions were, for the most part, ineffectual. It 

 frequently happened, that persons in search of those most 

 dear to them could hear their moans — could recognise their 

 voices — were certain of the exact spot where they lay buried 

 beneath their feet, yet could afford them no succour. The 

 piled mass resisted all their strength, and rendered their 

 efforts of no avail. 



At Terranuova, four Augustin monks, who had taken refuge 

 in a vaulted sacristy, the arch of which continued to support 

 an immense pile of ruins, made their cries heard for the space 

 of four days. One only of the brethren of the whole convent 

 was saved, and ^ of what avail was his strength to remove the 



3f rubbish which had overwhelmed his 

 heard their voices die away gradually ; 

 s their four cornses were disinterred, thev 



enormous weight 

 companions ?^ He 



* Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, vol. v. as cited above, p, 117, note. 



