126 EARTHQUAKES. 



mortar, are but poorly put together, and, as Mallet has 

 remarked, are in no way adapted to withstand the frightful 

 shakings to which they are subjected from time to time. 



In the large towns, like Naples, Eome, and Florence, 

 where happily earthquakes are of rare occurrence, although 

 the building may be better than that found in the country, 

 the height of the houses and the narrowness of the streets 

 are sufficient to create a shudder, when we think of the 

 possibility of the occurrence of a moderately severe earth- 

 quake. 



In South America, although many buildings are built 

 with brick and stone, the ordinary houses, and even the 

 larger edifices, are specially built to withstand earth- 

 quakes. In Mr. James Douglas's account of a * Journey 

 Along the West Coast of South America,' we read the 

 following^ : ' The characteristic building material of Guaya- 

 quil is bamboo, which grows to many inches in thickness, 

 and which, when cut partially through longitudinally at 

 distances of an inch or so, and once quite through, can 

 be opened out into fine elastic boards of serviceable width. 

 Houses, and even churches, of a certain primitive beauty 

 are built of such reeds, so bound together with cords that 

 few nails enter into the construction, and which, therefore, 

 yield so readily to the contortions of the earth during an 

 earthquake as to be comparatively safe.' 



Here we have a house, which, so far as earthquakes are 

 concerned, is an exaggerated example of the principles 

 which are followed in the construction of an ordinary 

 Japanese dwelling. 



Another plan adopted in South America can be 



gathered from the same author's writings upon Lima, 



about which he says, ' To build high houses would be to 



erect structures for the first earthquake to make sport of, 



' Journal of the Amei ioan Geograpldcal Society, vol. x. 



