Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/537

Rh places 400 feet in depth of these clays, overlay the soft rocks beneath. Near the junction of this torrent with the Agri, I had noticed many fragments, and some large lumps of lignite in its bed, and when ascended, to within about a mile of Montemurro, I was enabled to see the lignite beds in situ beneath the clay cliffs at the opposite (east) side of the Laderana, and nearly on the level of the water. They appeared to be from 1 to 2 feet in thickness, perfectly black, but as fuel, of very inferior quality; they are unused, and apparently unknown to the inhabitants.

A good while before reaching this elevation, Gallichio, Missanello, and other distant towns, to the east and S.E., perched amidst the lateral valley recesses of the Agri, had been visible, all showing with the telescope, evidences of devastation. St. Archangelo is the most remote, that I have had a glimpse of, distant about 20 miles to the S. E.