EARTHQUAKE. 37 



several months afterwards, for want of food 

 and proper care. The night of Holy Thurs- 

 day presented the most distressing scene 

 of desolation and sorrow. That thick cloud 

 of dust, which, rising above the ruins, dark- 

 ened the sky like a fog, had settled on the 

 ground. No shock was felt, and never was 

 a night more calm or more serene. The 

 moon, nearly full, illumined the rounded 

 domes of the Silla, and the aspect of the 

 sky formed a perfect contrast to that of the 

 earth, covered with the dead and heaped 

 with ruins. Mothers were seen bearing in 

 their arms their children, whom they hoped 

 to recall to life. Desolate families wan- 

 dered through the city, seeking a brother, 

 a husband, a friend, of whose fate they 

 were ignorant, and whom they believed to 

 be lost in the crowd. The people pressed 

 along the streets, which could no more be 

 recognized but by long lines of ruins. 



