

• ^' ^-l^di- 



eu 



f 



Stiff, 



6^ 





''oula 



^^ Cukb 



;but 



exce^a 



tH in 



rian 



?reat 



^countrj-men 



? avails and 



Wics of tlie 

 them, wliile 



■1 be foreign 



.•luinee yrould 



' ' sufferings 



h.. . c imder- 



. A bare 



_ * 



]oT no idea 



from tk 



ml 



■n. 



,^i,;,-li death 

 , .f limbs 



1...:^ 



often 



siid- 



n 



, {jest 111 



re- 



tlie 



r, 



# 





t 



lill5 



■tire ; 



iT 





]u i'^ 



ivii 



Isi^^ 



bas 



Ch. XXIX.] 



SITE OF ANCIENT CALABEIAN TOWNS. 



143 



begun, no skill, or courage, or presence of mind, can point 

 out the path, of safety. During the intervals, of uncertain 

 duration, (lasting perhaps for centuries) between the more 

 fatal shocks, slight tremors of the soil are not unfrequent ; 

 and as these sometimes precede more violent convulsions, 

 they become a source of anxiety and alarm. The terror 

 arising from this cause alone is of itself no inconsiderable 



-•A 



evil. 



Althougb. sentiments of pure^ religion are frequently 



awakened by these awful visitations^ yet we more commonly 

 find that an habitual state of fear^ a sense of helplessness^ 

 and a belief in the futility of all human exertions^ prepare 

 the minds of the \nilgar for the influence of a demoralising 

 superstition. 



Where earthquakes are frequent^ there can never be perfect 

 security of property under the best government; industry 

 cannot be assured of reaping the fruits of its labour ; and the 

 most daring acts of outrage may occasionally be perpetrated 

 with impunity, when the arm of the law is paralysed by the 

 general consternation. It is hardly necessary to add, that 



the progress of civilisation and national wealth must be re- 



tarded by convulsions which level cities to the ground, destroy 

 harbours, throw down bridges, render roads impassable, and 

 cause the most cultivated valley-plains to be covered with 

 lakes, or the ruins of adjoining hills. 



In regions exposed to the frequent recurrence of severe 

 shocks, experience and scientific knowledge might, no doubt, 

 alleviate the evil. 



The Calabrian towns of mediseval date were most of them 

 perched, for the purposes of defence and security, on the tops 

 of isolated hills, where they are said to be rocked by every 

 shock like sailors on the top of a mast."^ The same sites have 

 usually precipices on several sides, over the edges of which 

 the tottering buildings may readily be precipitated together 

 with some of the ground on which their foundations repose. 



When towns arp; rila.pprl in flip 



more 



m 



as are 



best 



* Mallet, Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857, vol. i. p. 30. 



V 



