DESTRUCTION OF MESSINA IN 1783.
"Sometimes the earthquake comes in the form of a blow of the surface of the earth from beneath, and in this shape it is most fatal and destructive. The earth seems to rise into the air as though there was a great explosion beneath it; buildings are forced upward and fall in fragments, and whole villages and towns are tossed against the hills and mountains in the vicinity, while men and animals are conveyed hundreds of yards away, either with or without the land on which they are standing. The great earthquake of 1783 in Southern Italy and Sicily, that destroyed Messina and other cities, was of this character. A peasant was carried from one part of a valley to another, together with the field where he was at work; and at another place people were hurled against the top and sides of a hill. Messina seemed to be lifted up in an instant of time, and then fell back again, burying thousands of people beneath the crumbling stones. There was no warning in any form; but the movement of the ground was accompanied by a roaring sound, which seemed to be far down in the earth. Ships were dashed against the shore, or overwhelmed with the huge waves that accompanied the earthquake, and the ground opened in many places in great cracks, that soon closed up again and swallowed those who happened to be caught in them.
ITALIAN PEASANTS INGULFED BY CREVASSES.
"To show how complete was the destruction by that earthquake, we will consider the effects on the town of Terra Nova. It stood on an elevated plateau that had deep gorges on three sides of it. The shock of the earthquake shook the plateau to pieces, and it rolled down into the gorges, carrying houses and inhabitants with it. Men, women, and children were swallowed up, and so complete was the devastation, that nothing remained to show where the town had been. The ground continued to tremble at intervals for months after this great earthquake, but there were no shocks as severe as the first."
"Haven't I read somewhere," said one of the boys, "that the severest earthquakes are near the sea?"
"Quite possibly you have read it," the Doctor answered, "for such is the case. There seems to be some kind of relationship between the sea and volcanoes and earthquakes; the greatest and most active volcanoes are not far removed from the sea or ocean, and some are actually in it. Vesuvius and Etna rise from the edge of the Mediterranean, while nearly on a line between them we find Stromboli, which has been in active eruption for two thousand years. It is called the light-house of the Mediterranean, and is very useful to mariners, as it gives a flash of light at regular intervals of a few minutes, and can be seen at night from a great distance. It is directly in the track of steamers between Naples and Messina, and makes a most excellent landmark.