Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/277

Rh having mistaken at the time of observation, the periods of high, and of low water.

I also examined the coast carefully to the eastward of Torre del Greco, and to where the railway branches off to Castellammare, and where some of the firm lava streams from Vesuvius, have run into the sea, and afford the best natural marks as to tidal level that the bay presents, but was unable to find any evidence of recent change of level of the land.

I also examined the quays and beach at Salerno, the mouth of the river Vicentino, which falls into the Gulf of Salerno, S.E. of Monte Corvino, and the beds of the rivers Tusciano and Salaris, in the great plain of Pæstum, with the same negative result.

At Pæstum, the proprietor of the soil, who is also the appointed guardian of the antiquities of the place, was at home at his "Casone." He was perfectly familiar with every feature of the shore line, from the ancient city down to Agropoli, and had recently passed along it, but had remarked no changes since December 16th, 1857 though quite alive to the question of rise and fall of the land.

I conclude, therefore, that there is no evidence whatever of any permanent change of level of the land in connection with this earthquake, upon the west coast from Pozzuoli to Agropoli, and it is not conceivable that there should be any, upon the Adriatic coast, where the shock was only perceptible. Rh