Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/371

Rh stood upon the summit, and under the masses of which many of the gendarmerie were crushed.

Wherever the walls had stood sufficiently, to observe the direction of fissures, they were found traversing the former at angles indicating steep emergence, as may be seen in the three last Photogs. In general, however, this angle approached the vertical more, at the upper parts of the city, than at or near the base of the hill on which it stood, proving that whatever had been the angle of emergence of the wave, at the base of the hill, or on the level of the plain, the hill itself, short and stumpy though it was, had vibrated with a proper motion of its own, which, being necessarily nearly horizontal, had thus modified the angles of the fissures. Descending by the east slope, and amongst the buildings around the base of the hill, and towards the bridge over the Calore, I found abundance of objects for fixing the direction of wave-path.

The church of the monastery of St. Chiara (Photog. No. 167) stands about half-way down the slope. The plane of the west end wall is exactly cardinal (north and south), and shows large diagonal fissures running quite across the façade. The direction of these proves a wave-path, north to south 10° to 12° E. of N., and an angle of emergence not less than 40°. The support of the solid belfry at the S. W. quoin, has prevented fissures crowing each other in this end, and, with the exception of one great diagonal shattering, at the top of the belfry, its construction, has involved chiefly a deep vertical fissure in it, extending almost to its base, but at the east end. The diagonal fissures of the main building, cross and have their upper ends inclined, chiefly towards the north. The roof has in great part