Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/279

Rh At Sorrento Point, the direction of wave-path was described to me by several intelligent observers resident there at the time, to have been from S. to N., or very nearly so. I could not visit myself that locality. In Pimonte, also, the façade of the Chiesa Madre was fissured, and part of the roof thrown in. At Sigliano, some houses were overthrown. At Gragnano, on the slope above Castellammare, a great many poor buildings were greatly shaken, as was also the case with all the villages, upon both the north and south sides of the mountainous peninsula, terminating with Punta della Campanella; but in the island of Capri, directly south of Naples, and but a few miles from this cape, the shock was scarcely perceived.

On the south side of this peninsula, Tramonte, Minori and Majori, were fissured, but uniustructively, from the character of the buildings. At Amalfi, the shock was alarmingly felt. The doors and windows rattled for ten or twelve seconds at each of the two shocks; but no injury occurred to any of the buildings, which are generally of a substantial and well-built character of masonry. The Padrone of the Hôtel des Capuchins, and also the chief apothecary of the place, were able to point out to me separately, the directions in which they perceived the shock; both statements closely agreed in pointing out an azimuth, which proved to be 133° W. of N.; i.e., from a S. W. to N. E. direction; and several facts indicated the occurrence of an orthogonal shock here, and at Atrani. They heard no noise.

The line of coast here is nearly E. and W., and so is the face of Palmieri's quay wall.