Earthquake in Calabria, Marches, 1 7S 3. v 
1 he fame dTe&s which took place in the country your ex- 
cellency is now in were like wife produced by the earthquake in 
thefe parts. Many hills were divided or laid level ; many aper- 
tures were made in the furface of the earth throughout the 
whole furface which lies between the two vallies occupied by 
the rivers Corace and Lameto, as you go towards Angitola. 
Out of many of thefe apertures a great quantity of water 
coming either from the fubterraneous concentrations, or the 
rivers themfelves in the neighbourhood of which the ground 
broke up, fpottted during feveral hours. From one of thefe 
openings in the territory of Borgia, diftant about a mile from 
the lea, there came out a large quantity of fait water which 
imitated the motions of the fea itfelf for feveral days. Warm 
water likewife ilfued from the apertures made in the plains of 
Maida ; but I cannot fay whether this was of a mineral qua- 
lity, or heated by the fame fubterraneous fire. 
We muff likewife take notice, that there came from the 
fame li fibres out of which the water ilfued fome very 
'thin earth, either of a white, grey, or yellow fort, which 
from its extreme tenuity had all the appearance of a true land. 
I have feen only the grey, in which there was evidently a mix- 
ture of iron. 
It has all'o been obferved, that in all the fandy parts, where 
the explofion took place, there were obferved, from diflance to 
dilfance, apertures in the form of an inverted cone, out of 
which likewife there came water. This feems to prove that 
from thence efcaped a flake of ele&ric fire. Fiffures of this 
kind are particularly met with along the banks of the Lameto 
from the place where it goes into the fea hitherwards for many 
a mile. 
Amidff the various phenomena, which either preceded or 
followed the earthquake, the two former are remarkable. On the 
very day of the earthquake the water of a well in Maida, which 
heretofore people ufed to drink, was infe&ed with fo difguff- 
ful a fulphureoustafb, that it was impolfible even to fmell toitv 
On the other hand, at Catanzaro the water of a well, which 
before could not be-ufcd becaufe of a fmell of calcination that 
it 
1 
