i Bo Sir william Hamilton’s Account of 
the white prevails moft, and is full of marine {hells, particu- 
larly l'collop fhells. This valley of clay is inter-hefted in many 
parts by rivers and torrents coming from the mountains, 
which have produced wide and deep ravines ail over the coun- 
try. Soon after we had palled through the ruined town of St. 
Pietro, we had a diflan t view of Sicily, and the fummit of 
Mount Etna, which lmoked confiderably. Juft before we arrived 
at Rofarno, near a ford of the river Mamella we palled over 
a fwampy plain, in many parts of which I was Ihewn frnall 
hollows in the earth, of the lhape of an inverted cone : they 
were covered with land, as was the foil near them. I was 
told that, during the earthquake of the 5th of February, from 
each of thefe fpots a fountain of water mixed with fand had 
been driven up to a confiderable height. I fpoke to a peafant 
here, who was prefen t, and was covered with the water and 
fand ; but allured me, that it was not hot, as had been repre- 
fented. Before this appearance, he faid, the river was dry ; 
but foon after returned and overflowed its banks. I afterwards, 
found, that the fame phenomenon had been conftant with 
refpeft to all the other rivers in the plain during the formidable 
Ihock of the 5th of February. I think this phenomenon is 
ealily explained, by fuppoling the £ rft impulfe of the earth- 
quake to have come from the bottom upwards,, which all 
the inhabitants of the plain atteft to be faft ; the furface of 
the plain fuddenly rifing, the rivers, which are not deep, 
would naturally difappear, and the plain, returning with vio- 
lence to its former level, the rivers muft naturally have re- 
turned, and overflowed, at the fame time that the fudden de- 
* f 
prefiion of the boggy grounds would as naturally force out the. 
water that lay hid under their furface. I obferved in the other 
parts where this fort of phenomenon had been exhibited, that 
5 the 
