Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857 Vol 2.djvu/165

114 400 beneath the water surface of the ancient craters at Monticchio.

From the neighbourhood of the Castello, which overtops the highest part of the city, and is at the edge of the most precipitous scarp around the walls, the summit of Vulture bears 156° W. of north, and, comparing this with Zannoni's map, the magnetic declination is about 15° W.

Melfi suffered terribly in 1851, when 800 persons were killed; 170 houses were prostrated; with churches, the cathedral and many other buildings nearly destroyed; the shock then, as numbers of old fissures show still, having had a wave-path nearly from south to north, and having a steep emergence. The people of the place say, if their account be reliable, that the movement of 1851 was first nearly vertical and then became oscillatory, lasting, in all, nearly a minute. It has, however, escaped very well on the present occasion, and upon an examination afforded such evidence, that I had got nearly to the verge in this radius, of such energy as had left any permanent marks of its effects, that I resolved to halt here, and return upon a new track.

There are a good many fissures to be found throughout the town, which give wave-paths from 30° to 40° E. of north.

The Intendenzia has got some rather heavy fissures in the front and interior walls, which give 45° 30' E. of north.

The Church of Mortcelli, a modern building, has its axial line east and west, and shows a recent fissure through the soffit of the nave. The east-end gable has parted off from the vault, widening here an ancient fissure of 1851. The wave-path shown is about 45° E. of north, but does