144

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

recital will, perhaps, appear tedious and uninteresting; butto many others, who take pleasure in contemplating theworks of nature, I flatter myself, that the hasty sketch ofso tremendous a phenomenon, will not be unacceptable.

The earthquake which I witnessed at Naples in 1804, wasbut the distant undulations of the exterior circles, proceedingfrom the centre of explosion. Nevertheless, terror per-vaded almost every mind; and all those whose circum-stances allowed them (Mr. Bottalin amongst the number)resided out of town for a couple of weeks ; while Cristofaroand I remained to take care of the house and had it allto ourselves. My information concerning the earthquakeof 1783 is derived from surviving witnesses of the disaster ;men of science, observation, and high rank in society, whowere sent by the Neapolitan government to administerrelief to the sufferers, and adjudicate in the disputes aboutproperty and localities, which were so strangely transfiguredand transplanted by the contending elements. I havealready apologized for departing from the direct line ofmy narrative in this digression, but I will make it as briefas possible.

On Wednesday the 5th of February, 1783, at one o’clockf.m., the district called La Piana or Plani, situatedbetween the rivers Gallico and Metramo, twenty-fivemiles long and as many broad, was convulsed by theshock of an earthquake, which lasted for nearly twominutes. The oscillations extended to Otranto, Lipari and theother Eolian islands; but not at all to Naples and theAbruzzi on the north. On the surface of that beautifulplain, there were no less than one hundred and nine townsand villages, containing one hundred and sixty-six thousandinhabitants. In less than two minutes not one stone wasleft upon another, of all those habitations, and thirty-twothousand persons of both sexes, and of every age and con -