244 
ON THE RECENT RIVIERA EARTHQUAKE. 
roused by an extraordinary sound, and at once thought of an 
earthquake, and just managed to get dressed somehow, when 
the disturbance came again, and they instantly rushed down 
stairs, and after looking out to see that no stones were failing, 
ran down the steps into the garden. The sea was visible 
from the end of the garden, and they went out to see if there 
was any tidal wave to be seen, but the whole surface of the 
water was quite calm, and no signs of any wave. A solitary 
fishing boat was lying off at some distance from the shore, 
and the men in it were stated to have said afterwards that 
they did perceive a considerable rise and fall of the sea at the 
time of the shocks. 
The luggage was all packed up at once ready for a 
removal, and during this occupation the third shock came 
(the one about a couple of hours after the first ones), when 
there was another stampede of the occupants of the. hotel, 
and the party went off to the railway station, which was 
situated higher up the mountain slope, and found the trains 
continued running. The lower portions of the town were 
seen to be greatly damaged, and it was expected the other 
coast towns of the Riviera would be similarly effected, so the 
party decided to escape at once into France by Marseilles to 
Lyons, and thus round into Switzerland, as the best chance 
of being able to sleep in peace. In this they were successful, 
but they found at Lausanne that the shocks had been felt 
there and at Geneva, although only slightly, and noticed 
only as matters of curiosity and of no importance. Their 
fellow-travellers from Mentone were a French family with 
children and servant, who had been staying in another hotel 
that was much damaged by the earthquake. At the first 
shock the ceiling of the room fell upon them and upon their 
clothes, and they could not find more than a few wraps, and 
fled down the stairs with their children and servant, who had 
only a few things tied up in her apron. They managed to 
get down between the first and second shocks, and the second 
one brought down the marble staircase bodily, and little 
dressed as they were, they went off in that way by the train 
through to Paris. Fortunately it was a lovely day for the 
travelling, but the apron full of' things was all they had been 
able to bring away out of the 200 kilos of luggage they had 
taken out with them for their excursion. 
In Mentone, a large portion of the town was seen to be 
greatly injured, and some lofty newly-built hotels and some 
new villas had suffered severely; there were even two houses 
with the ends out, and the beds and furniture in the rooms 
were visible outside. Several invalids lay upon beds on the 
