網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

ftood, there you fee a heap of ruins, and a poor barrack, with two or three miferable mourning figures fit ting at the door, and here and there a maimed man, woman, or child, crawling upon crutches. Instead of a town, you fee a confufed heap of ruins, and round about them a number of poor huts or barracks, and a larger one to ferve as a church, with the church bells hanging upon a fort of low gibbet; every inhabitant with a doleful countenance, and wearing fome token of having loft a parent.

"I travelled four days in the plain, in the midst of fuch mifery as cannot be described. The force of the earthquake was fo great there, that all the inhabitants of the towns were buried alive or dead under the ruins of their houfes in an inftant. The town of Poliftene was large, but ill fituated between two rivers, fubject to overflow. Two thoufand one hundred, out of about fix thoufand, loft their lives here the fatal 5th of February. The marquis St. Giorgio, the baron of this country, whom I found here, was well employed in affifting his tenants. He had caufed the streets of his ruined town to be cleared of rubbish, and had erected barracks on a healthy fpot near it, for the remainder of his fubjects, and on a good plan. He had alfo conftructed barracks of a larger fize for the filk worms, which I found already at work in them. This prince's activity and generofity is moft praife-worthy, and, as far as I have feen hitherto, he is without a rival. I obferved, that the town of St. Georgio, on a hill about two miles from Poliftene, though rendered uninhabitable, was by no means levelled like the towns in the plain. There was a nunnery at Po. liftene; being curious to fee the nuns that escaped, I afked the mar1783.

quis to fhew me their barracks; but, it feems, only one out of twentythree had been dug out of her cell alive, and fhe was fourfcore years of age. After having dined with the marquis in his humble barrack, near the ruins of his very magnificent palace, I went through a fine wood of olive, and another of chefnuttrees, to Cafal Nuovo, and was fhewn the fpot on which stood the houfe of my unfortunate friend the princefs Gerace Grimaldi, who, with more than four thoufand of her fubjects loft her life by the fudden explofion of the 5th of February (for fo it appears to have been), that reduced this town to atoms. I was told by fome here, who had been dug out of the ruins, that they felt their houses fairly lifted up, without having had the leaft previous notice. In other towns fome walls and parts of houfes are standing; but here you neither. diftinguish street or houfe; all lie in one confufed heap of ruins. An inhabitant of Cafal Nuovo told me, he was on a hill at the moment of the earthquake, overlooking the plain, when feeling the fhock, and turning towards the plain, instead of the town, he faw in the place of it a thick cloud of white duft like fmoke, the natural effect of the crushing of the buildings, and the mortar flying off.

"From hence I went through the towns of Caftellace and Milicufco (both in the fame condition as Cafal Nuovo), to Terra Nuova, fituated in the fame lovely plain, between two rivers, which, with the torrents from the mountains, have, in the courfe of ages, cut deep and wide chafins in the foft fandy clay foil of which the whole plain is compofed. At Terra Nuova the ravine, or chafin, is not lefs than 500 feet deep, and three quarters of a mile I

broad,

broad. What caufes a confufion in all the accounts of the phenomena produced by this earthquake in the plain, is the not having fufficiently explained the nature of the foil and fituation. They tell you, that a town has been thrown a mile from the place where it stood, without mentioning a word of a ravine; that woods and corn-fields had been removed in the fame manner, when in truth it is but upon a large fcale, what we fee every day upon a finaller, when pieces of the fides of hollow ways, having been under mined by rain waters, are detached into the bottom by their own weight. Here from the great depth of the ravine, and the violent motion of the earth, two huge portions of the earth, on which a great part of the town ftood, confifting of fome hundreds of houfes, were detatched into the ravine, and nearly across it, about half a mile from the place where they stood; and what is most extraordinary, feveral of the inhabitants of thofe houfes, who had taken this fingular leap in them, were nevertheless dug out alive, and fome unhurt. I fpoke to one myfelf who had taken this extraordinary journey in his houfe, with his wife and a maid-fervant: neither he nor his maid fervant were hurt; but he told me, his wife had been a litthe hurt, but was now nearly recovered. I happened to ask him, what hurt his wife had received? His answer, though of a very serious nature, will nevertheless, I am fure, make you fmile, Sir, as it did me. He faid, he had both her legs and one arm broken, and that the had a fracture on her fkull, fo that the brain was visible. It appears to me, that the Calabrefi have more firmnets than the Neapolitans; and they really feem to bear their excellive prefent misfortune with a

true philofophic patience. Of 1600 inhabitants at Terra Nuova, only 400 efcaped alive. My guide there, who was a priest and physician, had been shut up in the ruins of his house by the first shock of the earthquake, and was blown out of it, and delivered by the fucceeding fhock, which followed the first immedi ately. There are many well-attefted inftances of the fame having happened elsewhere in Calabria. In other parts of the plain fituated near the ravine, and near the town of Terra Nuova, I faw many acres of land with trees and corn-fields that had been detatched into the ravinę, and often without having been overturned, fo that the trees and crops were growing as well as if they had been planted there. Other fuch pieces were lying in the bottom, in an inclined fituation; and others again that had been quite overturned. In one place, two of these immenfe pieces of land having been detached oppofite to one another, had filled the valley, and stopped the courfe of the river, the waters of which were forming a great lake: and this is the true ftate of what the accounts mention of mountains that had walked, and joined together, stopped the course of the river, and formed a lake. At the moment of the earthquake the river difappeared here, as at Rofarno, and returning foon after, overflowed the bottom of the ravine about three feet in depth, fo that the poor people that had been thrown with their houses into the ravine from the top of it, and had efcaped with broken bones, were now in danger of being drowned. I was affured, that the water was falt, like that of the fea; but this circumftance feems to want confirmation. The fame reafon I have given for the fudden disappearing of the river Metauro at Rofarno will

account

account for the like phenomenon here, and in every part of the country where the rivers dried up at the moment of the earthquake. The whole town of Mollochi di Sotto near Terra Nuova, was likewife de. tatched into the ravine, and a vine yard of many acres near it lies in the bottom of the ravine as I faw in perfect order, but in an inclined fituation: there is a footpath through this vineyard, which has a fingular effect, confidering its prefent impracticable fituation. Some watermills, that were on the river, having been jammed between two fuch detatched pieces as above defcribed, were lifted up by them, and are now seen on an elevated fituation, many feet above the level of the river. Without the proper explanations it is no wonder that fuch facts fhould appear miraculous. I obferved in feveral parts of the plain, that the foil with timber trees and crops of corn, confifting of many acres, had funk eight or ten feet below the level of the plain; and in others again I perceived it had rifen as many. It is neceffary to remember, that the foil of the plain is a clay mixed with fand, which is eafily moulded into any fhape. In the plain, near the fpots from whence the above mentioned pieces had been detatched into the ravine, there were feveral parallel cracks, fo that had the violence of the fhocks of the earthquake continued, thefe pieces alfo would have probably followed. remarked conftantly in all my journey, that near every ravine, or hollow way, the parts of the plain adjoining were full of large parallel cracks. The earth rocking with violence from fide to fide, and having a fupport on one fide only, accounts well for this circumftance. From Terra Nuova I went to Oppido. This city is fituated on a

I

mountain of a ferruginous fort of gritty ftone, unlike the clay, foil of its neighbourhood, and is furround. ed by two rivers in a ravine deeper and broader than that of Terra Nuova. Inftead of the mountain on which Oppido was fituated having fplit in two, and by its fall on the rivers, ftopped their courfe and formed great lakes, as we were told; it was (as at Terra Nuova) huge pieces of the plain on the edge of the ravine, that had been detached into it, nearly filled it up, and stopped the courfe of the rivers, the waters of which are now forming two great lakes. It is true, that part of the rock on which Oppido ftood was detached with feveral houfes into the ravine; but that is a trifling circumftance in comparison of the very great tracts of land, with large plantations of vines and olivetrees, which have been detached from one fide of the ravine clear over to the other, though the dif tance is more than half a mile. It is well attefted, that a countryman, who was ploughing his field in this neighbourhood with a pair of oxen, was tranfported with his field and team clear from one fide of a ravine to the other, and that neither he nor his oxen were hurt. After what I have feen, I verily believe this may have happened. A large volume might be compofed of the curious facts and accidents of this kind produced by the earthquakes in the valley; and, I fuppofe, many will be recorded in the account of the late formidable earthquakes, which the Academy of Naples intend to publifh, the prefident having already fent into Calabria fifteen members, with draughtfinen in proportion, to collect the facts, and make drawings for the fole purpose of giving a fatisfactory and ample account of the late calamity to the I 2

public;

public; but unless they attend, as I did, to the nature of the foil of the local where thofe accidents happened, their reports will generally meet with little credit, except from thofe who are profeffed dilettanti of miracles, and many fuch do certainly exist in this country. I met with a remarkable inftance here of the degree of immediate diftrefs to which the unfortunate inhabitants of the deftroyed towns were reduced. Don Marcello Grillo, a gentleman of fortune, and of great landed property, having efcaped from his houfe at Oppido, which was deftroyed by the earthquake, and his money (no less than twelve thoufand pieces of gold) having been buried under the ruins of it, remained several days without food or fhelter during heavy rains, and was obliged to a hermit in the neighbourhood for the loan of a clean fhirt. Having walked over the ruins of Oppido, I defcended into the ravine, and examined carefully the whole of it. Here I faw, indeed, the wonderful force of the earthquake, which has produced exactly the fame effects as I have defcribed in the ravine of Terra Nuova, but on a fcale infinitely greater. The enormous maffes of the plain, detached from each fide of the ravine, lye fometimes in confufed heaps, form ing real mountains, and having ftopped the courfe of two rivers (one of which is very confiderable) great lakes are already formed, and, if not affifted by nature or art, fo as to give the rivers their due courfe, muft infallibly be the caufe of a general infection in the neighbourhood. Sometimes I met with a de. tached piece of the furface of the plain (of many acres in extent) with the large oaks and olive-trees, with lupins or corn under them, grow ing as well, and in as good order at

the bottom of the ravine, as their companions, from whom they were feparated, do on their native foil the plain, at least 500 feet higher, and at the distance of about three quarters of a mile. I met with whole vineyards in the fame order in the bottom, that had like. wife taken the fame journey. As the banks of the ravine, from whence thefe pieces came, are now bare and perpendicular, I perceiv ed that the upper foil was a reddifh earth, and the under one a fandy white clay, very compact, and like a foft ftone: the impulse these huge maffes received, either from the violent motion of the earth alone, or that affifted with the additional one of the volcanic exhalations fet at liberty, feems to have acted with greater force on the lower and more compact ftratum than on the upper cultivated cruft: for I conftantly obferved, where thefs cultivated iflands lay (for fo they appeared to be on the barren bottom of the ravine) the under ftratum of compact clay had been driven fome hundred yards farther, and lay in confufed blocks, and, as I obferved, many of thofe blocks were of a cubical form. The under foil having had a greater impulfe, and leaving the upper in its flight, naturally ac counts for the order in which the trees, vineyards, and vegetation, fell and remain at prefent in the bottom of the ravine. This curious fact, I thought, deferved to be recorded, but it is not eafily defcribed by words. When the drawings and plans of the Academy are publifhed, this account (imperfect as it is) may, perhaps, have its utility: had my time permitted, I would certainly have taken a draughtfiman with me into Calabria. In another part of the bottom of the ravine there is a mountain compofed of the fame ch

[ocr errors]

foil, and which was probably a piece of the plain detached by an earthquake at fome former period; it is about 250 feet high, and about 400 feet diameter at its bafis: this mountain, as is well attested, has travelled down the ravine near four miles, having been put in motion by the earthquake of the 5th of February. The abundance of rain which fell at that time, the great weight of the fresh detached pieces of the plain, which I faw heaped up at the back of it, the nature of the foil of which it is compofed, and particularly its fituation on a declivity, accounts well for this phenomenon; whereas the reports which came to Naples, of a mountain, in a perfect plain, having leaped four miles, had rather the appearance of a miracle. I found fome fingle timber trees alfo with a lump of their native foil at the roots, ftanding upright in the bottom of the ravine, and which had been detached from the plain above mentioned. I ob. ferved alfo, that many confufed heaps of the loofe foil detached by the earthquake from the plains on each fide of the ravine, had actually run like a volcanic lava (having probably been affifted by the heavy rain) and produced many effects greatly refembling thofe of lava during their courfe down a great part of the ravine. At Santa Criftina, in the neighbourhood of Oppido, the like phenomena have been exhibited, and the great force of the earthquake of the 5th of February feems to have been exerted on these parts and at Cafal Nuova and Terra Nuova. The phenomena exhibited by the earthquakes in other parts of the plains of Calabria Ultra are of the fame nature; but trifling in comparison of thofe I have been defcribing. The barracks erceted for the remaining inhabit

ants of the ancient city of Oppido, now in ruins, are on a healthy fpot, at about the distance of a mile from the old town, where I found the baron of this country, the prince of Cariati, ufefully employed in the affiftance of his unfortunate fubjects. He fhewed me two girls, one of a bout fixteen years of age, who had remained eleven days without food under the ruins of a houfe at Oppido: fhe had a child of five or fix months old in her arms, which died the fourth day. The girl gave me a clear account of her fufferings: having light through a fmall opening, the had kept an exact account of the number of days fhe had been buried. She did not feem to be in bad health, drinks freely, but has yet a difficulty in fwallowing any thing folid. The other girl was about eleven years of age; fhe remained under the ruins fix days only; but in fo very confined and diftrefsful a posture, that one of her hands, preffing against her cheek, had nearly worn a hole through it.

From Oppido I proceeded through the fame beautiful country and ruined towns and villages to Seminara and Palmi. The houfes of the former were not quite in fuch a ruined condition as thofe of the lat ter, whofe fituation is lower and nearer the fea. Fourteen hundred lives were loft at Palmi, and all the dead bodies have not been removed and burnt, as in most other parts I vifited; for I faw myfelf two taken up while I was there, and I fhall ever remember a melancholy figure of a woman in mourning, fitting upon the ruins of her house, her head reclined upon her hand and knee, and following with an anxious eager eye every ftroke of the pickaxe of the labourers employed to clear away the rubbish, in hopes of recovering the corpfe of a favourite 13

child.

« 上一頁繼續 »