Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/289

Rh Salaris debouches upon the plain, between Eboli on the north, and the Bosco di Persano, the synclinal beds of limestone are developed upon the grandest scale (Fig. 124): from $$a$$ to $$b$$ is probably not less than twenty miles, and the same beds can be traced by the telescope at either side. Above and between these the upper limestone, of the collines, seems to lie unconformably. Upon one of the most prominent of these towards the south are perched, Capaccio Nuovo and Capaccio Vetico, with the great adjacent monastery; in all which, I was informed, the earthquake had been severely felt, but no considerable damage done. The general aspect of these branches of the Apennines, as I look back and into their recesses, is one of extreme confusion and dislocation, produced by long-continued and reiterated elevatory action of the most violent character, of which no just idea is given, by the surface configuration even of the largest maps, such as those of Bachler D'Albe and Zannoni; and such as it would require years of labour from the field geologist to analyse and describe.

At Pæstum I examined the ruins of the temples with care, for evidences of the shock, but they presented not the smallest indication of dislocation. Formed, as they are, of extremely massive blocks, laid without cement, and with all the top weight due to Greek Doric architecture, few buildings could be by form and structure more amenable to "promptings from beneath." A careful examination, however, led me to conclude that since their foundation, they had suffered nothing by earthquake, not even to the opening of a joint—a sufficient disproof of the common tradition, that Pæstum was deserted and reduced to ruin, by reason of the earthquakes that desolated the plain.