Edward Joy Morris

“ It is a curious fact that the apparently extinct volcanoes often produce the greatest devastation. Vesuvius was silent for an immemorial period down to A. D. 79, the date of the destruction of Herculanæum and Pompeii. After a long interval of slumber, Mount Epomeo in Ischia, burst out, A. D. 1301, and covered the whole island with a deluge of lava; and 1538 Monte Nuovo, in the Campi Phlegraei, in thirty-six hours rose from the bowels of the earth to a height of four hundred and forty feet, near the site of an old crater. ”

“ The loss of life from the earthquake of the 14th ult., it is supposed, will amount to more than two thousand five hundred souls. Every effort is making by the proper authorities to mitigate the calamity, and the government has already contributed ten thousand ducats to the relief of the survivors. It is to be hoped that fresh disasters may not arise, but serious apprehensions will be felt on the subject until Ætna or Vesuvius get into action. ”

“ Rienero is a general wreck, not a sound house remaining—more than a hundred persons have perished, and as many have been maimed or wounded. In Barile, the only edifice not entirely destroyed is the orphan asylum, while the discovered dead amount to about one hundred and fifty. ”