Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 026.djvu/897

 1829.]

Phenomena of the Great Earthquake in 17&3.

879

PHENOMENA OF THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF 1783 IN CALABRIA AND SICILY. FROM THE JOURNAL OF A TRAVELLER.

Lo Pizzo, in Calabria Ultra,

September, 1786.

THE remarkable earthquakes of 1783 were perceptible in Naples, but their destructive force did not extend farther north than Nicastro, the bar- rier-town which separates the two Calabrias. This town, although much injured by former convulsions, and severely shaken on this occasion, escaped all material injury ; but im- mediately south of it, I entered a scene of ruin and desolation. In one of the solitary and half-ruined houses on the road to Pizzo, where I paused for some refreshment, the inhabitants re- lated some marvellous stories of the strange atmospheric appearances which had preceded the earthquake. These ominous phenomena had ei- ther, however, no existence, or were merely the electric flashes so com- mon in this district, and magnified into something extraordinary by an imaginative and superstitious people. All the houses on the plain south of Nicastro consisted of large masses of hewn stone, and yet they were either entirely overthrown, or, where still standing, the walls and timbers were so rent and disjointed, that en- tire reconstruction will be necessary. The rebuilding, however, was neither commenced nor even contemplated. The earth was still unsettled, and, but the day before my arrival, a vio- lent shock had rocked the whole plain. There is also a prevailing supersti- tion in Calabria, that, after a convul- sion so tremendous as that of 1783, the earth requires a period of four years to regain tranquillity ; and ever since the ruin of their houses, the people have lived in wooden huts or barracks. The evening surprised me while still eight Italian miles from Pizzo, and I endeavoured to nego- tiate a lodging in one of these solitary dwellings ; but the inhabitants, with a genuine kindness at obvious variance with their own interest, vehemently warned me of the great peril to all strangers, arising from the mal-aria of the stagnant pools and marshes created by the earthquake. I pro- ceeded therefore by Edelfico, and, leaving the plain, ascended a fertile mountain, on the declivity of which,

towards the sea, lies the town of Pizzo. From the lofty summit I be- held the sun sinking like a ball of fire into the sea, and diffusing over the wide waters a golden splendour, which instantaneously banished every thought of the banditti said to infest this district. With exhilarated feel- ings I joined a group of singing pea- sants returning from their labour to the town of Pizzo ; but these joyous emotions were changed to sudden sadness when, on arrival in the town, I found it totally destroyed.

The most destructive periods of this formidable earthquake were the 5th of February ; the night between the 6th and 7th ; the 27th and 28th of the same month; and the 1st, the 27th and 28th of March. After the last named date the earth became comparatively tranquil; but from tune to time, the shocks recurred, and still continue to the present day. The first shock was tremendous, and totally unexpected. All previous in- dications were either not sufficiently decisive evidence of its approach, or they preceded the convulsion so im- mediately, that, in most instances, the inhabitants had no time to escape. Besides the electric flashes peculiar to this climate, a dense and heavy fog covered the earth, and driving gales from the south-east or south- west, (Scirocco o Libeccio,) swept over all Calabria Ultra with increa- sing violence. The earth also exhi- bited one of those singular pheno- mena, called by the Italians " terre movitine," which is thus described by the learned and accurate Neapo- litan, Gio. Vivenzio, from whose valuable history of this remarkable earthquake I have borrowed, and in- terwoven with my personal narrative many curious facts. " Two miles from Laureana are two ravines di- vided by a hill, at the extremity of which the two hollows unite and form one valley. The soil in these hollows is swampy, watered by small streams, 1 and partially cultivated. A short time before the first shock, water, thickly blended with calcareous matter, was seen to ooze from the ground in the two ravines above-mentioned. Ra- pidly accumulating it beean ere long