DISTUKBANCES IN THE OCEAN. 167 



sea first drew back, then came in as waves, four or five 

 minutes after the earthquake. Altogether, between October 

 28 and February 24, 451 shocks were counted. At one 

 time the sea came in eighty feet above its usual level. 

 One account says that the large waves came in forty-one 

 and a half hours after the first shock, and seventeen and 

 a half hours after comparative tranquillity had pre- 

 vailed.^ 



At the eruption of Monte Nuovo, near Naples, in 

 September 27, 1538, the water drew back forty feet, so 

 that the whole gulf of Baja became dry. 



In 1696, at the time of the Catanian earthquake, the 

 sea is said to have gone back 2,000 fathoms. Instances 

 are recorded where the sea has receded several miles. 



The time taken for the flowing back of the sea is 

 usually very different. Sometimes it has only been five 

 or six minutes, whilst at other times over half an hour, 

 and there are records where the time is said to have been 

 still longer. 



Thus, at the earthquake of Santa (June 17, 1678), the 

 sea is stated to have gone as far back as the eye could reach, 

 and did not rise again for twenty-four hours, when it 

 flooded everything. 



In 1690 at Pisco the sea went back two miles, and did 

 not return for three hours. When it returns it does 

 so with violence, and examples of the heights to which 

 it may reach have been given. The greatest sea wave 

 yet recorded, according to Fuchs, is one which, on 

 October 6, 1737, broke on the coast of Lupatka, 210 feet 

 in height. 



There are, however, cases known where the sea has 

 returned as gradually as it went out. Thus, on December 



. > D. C. F. Winslow, ' Tides at Tahiti,' Am. Jmir. Sci. 1865, p. 45 ; also 

 Mallet's Catalogue of Earthqiialics. 



