18 tttat'i 



m Lisbon, 1755, in about eight 

 minutes, 50,000 inhabitants were 

 swallowed up, and the principal 

 parts of the city buried. In 1743, 

 the town of Guatemala, in 

 Mexico — with all its riches, and 

 8000 families — was swallowed 

 up, the spot where it was buried 

 being now a complete desert. In 

 England, earthquakes have been 

 felt, in 1089 ; at Lincoln, 1142 ; 

 in London, when St. Paul's and 

 the Temple Churches were in- 

 jured, 1580; in Ireland, 1690; 

 in London, 1750 ; in Naples, 

 1857, when many towns and Til- 

 lages were greatly injured. 



To the action of extinct vol- 

 canoes, and earthquakes of ages 

 past, we owe the appearance of 

 many of the remarkable caverns 

 which exist in various parts of 

 the earth. FingaVs Cave, 1, in 



148. 



Stafia, a Scottish island, is an in- 

 teresting example. Here the lava, 

 which once poured forth in a 

 melting state, assumed the form 

 of columns, 2, upon cooling. 

 Other caverns arise from the 

 action of water upon minerals : 



s it; 



such are stalactite caverns, 3, in 

 which water, impregnated with 

 the carbonate of lime, becomes 



149. 



solidified, and assumes the form 

 of icicles dropping from the roof, 

 4, or shooting from the floor, 5. 

 Those pendent from the roof are 

 stalactites, 4 ; those rising from 

 th e ground stalagamites, 5 . Caverns 

 of this description occur in Derby- 

 shire, in the islands of Paros 

 and Antiparos, America, and other 

 parts of the world. 



An American traveller thus describes his 

 walk through one of these interesting places :- — 

 " We advanced with ease through the windings 

 of the cavern, which at times was so low as to 

 oblige us to stoop., at others so high that the 

 roof was lost in the gloom. But everywhere 

 the most wonderful varieties of stalactites and 

 crystals met our admiring view. At one time 

 we saw the guides lighting up some distant gal- 

 lery, far above our heads, which had all the 

 appearance of verandahs adorned with Gothic 

 tr;icery ; at another, we came into what seemed 

 the long-dravMi aisle-* of a Gothic cathedral, 

 brilliantly illuminated. The whimsical variety 

 of forms surpasses all powers of description. 

 Here was a butcher's shop, which seemed to 

 be hung with joints of meat ; and there a 

 throne, with a magnificent canopy. There was 

 the appearance of a statue, with a bearded 

 head, so perfect, that you could have thought 

 it the work of a sculptor ; and further on, to- 

 ward the end of our walk, the figure of a 

 warrior, with a helmet and coat of mail, and 

 his arms crossed, of the illusion of which, with 

 all my elforts, I could not possibly divest my 

 mind. Two stalactites, descending close lo 

 each other, are called, in a German inscription 



