the "Earthquakes in Italy in 1783. 1-9 
heads of the larged trees almoft touched the ground from fide 
to fide; that during a frock, oxen and horfes extended their • 
legs wide afunder not to be thrown down, and that thev gave 
evident figns of being fenfible of the approach of each frock* 
I mylelf oblerved, that in the parts that have differed mof by 
the earthquakes, the braying of an afs, the neighing of a 
horfe, or the cackling of a goofe, always drove people out of 
their barracks, and was the occafion of many pater-noders and 
ave-marias being repeated in expectation of a frock. From 
Monteleone I defcended into the plain, having paffed through 
many towns and villages which had been more or lefs ruined 
according to their vicinity to the plain. The town of Mileto, 
fituated in a bottom, I law w r as totally defrayed, and not a 
lioufe danding. At fome didance I faw Soriano and the noble 
Dominican convent a heap of ruins; but as my objeCt was 
not to vift ruins, but the greater phenomena produced by the 
earthquakes, I went on to Rofarno. I mud, however, fird 
mention the nrod remarkable indance I met with of animals 
being able to live long without food, of which there have 
been many examples during tlrefe prefent earthquakes. At 
Soriano two fattened hogs, that had remained buried under a 
heap of ruins, were taken out alive the forty-fecond day; they 
were lean and weak, but loon recovered. One of his Sicilian 
majedy’s engineers, who was prefent at the taking them out, 
gave me this information. It was evident to me, in this day’s 
journey, that all habitations fituated on high grounds, the foil 
of which is a gritty fand done, fomewhat like a granite, but 
without the confidence, had differed lefs than thofe fituated in 
the plain, which are univerfally levelled to the ground. The 
foil of the plain is a fandy clay, white, red, or brown ; but 
A a 2 the 
