i86 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS- 
confusion and desolation, the inhabitants rushed into the larger streets and the fields; 
■where, while consternation had seized their hearts, the earth shook under their feet, 
and the clouds poured forth hail and rain with resistless impetuosity on their heads. 
It was a varied and indescribable scene of ruin, distress, and death. 
The trepidation however of the earth continued with a concentrated murmur, 
like that of a bomb which bursts after it is buried in the earth. At three in the 
morning the shocks increased to such a degree, that those buildings which had resisted, 
from their massive strength, were thrown down, and the principal public edifices 
shaken into ruins. The sea also, by its violence and unusual rise,, aided the general; 
scene of devastation. 
" On the 2 2d of the same month at ten in the evening, the buildings which had; 
only crumbled in parts, fell at once, and Messina was destroyed. The very stones 
appeared as if they had been pounded in a mortar. 
From the 5th of February to the 9th of March inclusive, there were no less than* 
one hundred and eighty commotions. 
<f It is not easy to determine the number of inhabitants which perished at Messina; 
they are not, however, supposed to have exceeded five hundred, as the shocks were 
preceded by certain notices which gave them an opportunity to escape: though of 
the number of those who survived, the fourth part was. dragged forth from the ruins 
of the buildings in a wounded or maimed condition., 
“ The value of the public edifices and houses which were destroyed amounted: 
at least to fifteen millions of Roman crowns, and the loss of furniture, merchandize^ 
and gold and silver, was still more considerable.” 
The Agriculture of the Isle of Bourbon, by M. P'oivre. 
u The soil of the Isles of France and Bourbon is naturally as fertile as that of 
Madagascar, and they enjoy a more favourable climate. The latter of these islands 
has no port, and is not much frequented by shipping : but the manners of the inha¬ 
bitants are simple, and its agriculture flourishes. The Isle of Bourbon produces 
wheat, rice, and maize, more than sufficient for its own consumption, as it affords 
a portion of those grains for the supply of the Isle of France. The same mode 
of cultivation is pursued as in the Island of Madagascar. The cattle and sheep 
which were transported from thence have also succeeded, more particularly as the 
grass called Fatak, which forms an excellent pasturage, was also brought with them* 
