Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/285

Rh Some china vases and table ornaments of common form, in his rooms were thrown upon the floor. Some of his officials lost their footing and fell, during the second shock. He heard no noise with either shock, nor has he heard it stated that there was any sound heard by any one at Salerno. He furnished me with a copy of the official list of the houses destroyed, persons killed and wounded, &c., in the several Communes of his province, and letters to the Sotto Intendenti in the various parts thereof, and a general authority, under his sign manual, to call upon the Guardia d'Urbani and Gendarmerie anywhere, if necessary to aid in my examinations.

The walls of the Intendenzia are rather heavily fissured, especially through the window and door opes of the great stone staircase. The fissures in walls running E. and W., lean 10° to 13° from the vertical to the eastward: some are open 0.5 inch in 12 feet of length, and props and braces have been necessary.

The building is ordinal, and from three of the best fissures, I derive a wave direction, 53° W. of N.

The cathedral, a grand old structure, rich with the spoils of Pæstum, brought by Roberto Guiscardi, and of sound masonry, has its axial line (as I find is not uncommon in these very old Italian churches) not quite E. and W. The axis is 23° W. of N. There were two formidable fissures, one in the apse at the N. E. side,