Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857 Vol 2.djvu/289

228 time with iron chain bars, it would surely have fallen on that disastrous night, and occasioned great loss of life. Many houses have suffered considerably. In Ginosa the injuries were more important; twenty-six private houses were more or less destroyed. The town hall, and the residence of the royal judge, suffered not a little, several of the chambers being rendered uninhabitable.

Nothing in this number of the 'Giornale' except the incidental mention of 200 people having been taken alive from the ruins of Polla. The columns are filled with an account of the "Royal beneficence" for the relief of the sufferers, &c.

The unhappy survivors at Montemurro, were alarmed on the 26th of last month, three hours before dawn, and again at day-break, by so strong a shock of earthquake that they fled in terror from their sheds. They were a prey to greater consternation, when they learned from some countrymen, that the earth had opened and closed again, during both shocks. No bad news, except terror, which, however, is a great misfortune to people who have suffered so much. At the first of these hours (three hours before dawn) a severe shock was felt at Viggiano, when some walls fell, but no other damage occurred.

Balvano also experienced a slight shock on the 23rd, and on the same day, just as night was setting in, two subterranean reports, like those of a cannon of great calibre, were heard in Saponara, an interval of thirty seconds between them. The inhabitants fled from their sheds in great alarm, and assembled in the chapel to pray. After these remarks, it is unnecessary to mention the slight shocks which have been felt in other places of the Basilicata, not excepting Potenza.

On the night of the 6th March, three somewhat prolonged but harmless shocks of earthquake, were felt in Lagonegro. On the following day, at 3 P.M., two much more violent shocks