EARTHQUAKE. 



39 



and objects of the most urgent necessity, 

 were buried under the ruins. Every thing, 

 even food, w^as wanting during the first 

 days. Water became alike scarce in the 

 interior of the city. The commotion had 

 rent the pipes of the fountains ; the falling 

 in of the earth had choaked up the springs 

 that supplied them ; and it became neces- 

 sary, in order to have water, to go down 

 to the river Guayra, w^hich was consider- 

 ably swelled ; and then vessels, to convey 

 the^water, were wanting. 



** There remained a duty to be fulfilled 

 towards the dead, enjoined at once by 

 piety, and the dread of infection. It being 

 impossible to inter so many thousand corpses, 

 half buried under the ruins, commissaries 

 were appointed to burn the bodies ; and 

 for this purpose funeral piles were erected 

 between the heaps of ruins. This ceremony 

 lasted several days. Amid so many public 



