Page:Account of several remarkable earthquakes, which happened in various quarters of the world.pdf/16

 every conveniency of life, and finding none able to relieve them.

‘A few days after the first consternation was over, I ventured down into the city by the safest ways I could pick out, to see if there was a possibility of getting any thing out of my lodgings but the ruins were now so augmented by the late fire, that I was so far from being able to distinguish the individual spot where the house stood, that I could not even distinguish the street amidst the mountains of stone and rubbish which rose on every side. Some days after, I ventured down again with several porters, who, having long plied in these parts of the town, were well acquainted with the situation of particular houses; by their assistance, I at last discovered the spot; but was soon convinced, that to dig for any thing there, besides the danger of such an attempt, would never answer the expence.

'On both the times when I attempted to make this fruitless search, especially the first, there came such an intollerable stench from the dead bodies, that I was ready to faint away, and though it did not seem so great this last time, yet it had nearly been more fatal to me, as I contracted a fever by it, but of which, God be praised, I soon got the better. However, this made me so cautions for the future, that I avoided passing near certain places, where the stench was so excessive that people began to dread an infection: a gentleman told me that going into the town a few days after the earthquake, he saw several bodies lying in the streets, some horribly mangled, as he supposed, by the dogs, others half burnt, some quite roasted; and that in certain places, particularly near the doors of churches, they lay in vast heaps piled one upon another.'

Extracted from a Volume of Letters, published a few years ago by the Reverend Mr. Davy.