Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume VII, Number 41, 10 October 1868 — English Column. Earthquakes. [ARTICLE]

English Column.

Earthquakes.

Tbc year 1868 triU be notiblc for tl»e many and aneommon e-anhqu«kes (hil bare occarred a( dt(Teren( plaeea on (be eanh. In (he f\r»t months of the year «re heard of ear.hqoakes »t th« W«st lodsa Islands. In Apnl tfae i«ltod of Hawaii «rss sbaken in * manner nerer before koown or be«rd of bjf its iohabttan<s, «nd w»s »tlemied with sad re»ults f trhtch wili not be folgotten. The eanh aggitation on lhat i»laftd «til! intern»iiing!y cont)Dues. Laai «eek we receited ne*s of ihe terri--6c e«nhquakēi on the west cw!t of South Amehea tbat (ook pliee in the inoulh of August, whieh are reported io hare destroy. ed cwelre citie» and roore ihan 30,000 huinan I)ve*, and whieh furtber intellegence m«v »hvw tJ hare been e*en greafer. By some of the newspapers il is »tated that the temble caUi»ut»es wh>ch Utely oecurred from earthquakcs and wares are on» ptralied in the world*s history. Wliile we »gfee (bat ihe late Suuth AmeheMn earth> quakes were ibe »iiosf de»tructive that have tx-curred on the earth f«r n«any ywrs, weare ! r»ot of tbe number who regard them as un« paralifd; for we read ofearthquakes in times long past as being far nwrc de*tructive lo liuman !ift\ :iud di.«astrous in other rcspects. fn Holy Writ »t i.n deciared,— M The thing that haih been, il is thut whieh *hall be, and th.it whieh is tlo»te is that whieh shall be | <io»ie, »r>d there »s uo new thing under the sun." Th»»t we may properly judge os to the kte calamitirs being unpnnilled, a bnef notice of so»ne of thc earthquuked of past ttmes may not l»e inapt. Tlie (uost rcmarkab(e earthqunkes of aneienl (imfs are descr»bed by l'liny iu his iNatural History—Une is noticfd by hnn by whieh thirteen cities in Asi« Minor were swallowed up in one night, whieh must htvve drstroyed some h »ndred thousand of lives. Tbe most extruordmary one deseribeil by him, happened during the con«ul»te of Lucius Marcus a»td Sextus Julius, in the Koman province of Mutina. He relates that two mountiiins fe!t so tremendious u shock that they see»ned to approach nnd retire with a most dreadful noise. 13y this shock severol towns were destroyed, nnd all (he animals in *heir vicinity killed. f)uring the reign nf Tio|in, the city of Antioch was, together with a great part of the adjacent country destroyed by nn earthquake; and about three hundred years after, during the reigu of Justinian it wns ogain destroyed with the icss of furty thousandofitsinhubitants. Last« ly, afterlKn interval of sixty years, that »11fated city wns a third time overwhelined,; with n loss of sixty tnousand souls. » ! ln the year 1182, the greater part of the cities ofByria, ondthekingdoiu ofJeru9ulem, were destroyed by asimilnrcatastrophe; aud in 1094 the llulian writers describe un earth- > quake at l'uieoli, whieh occasioned the sea i to retire two hundred yards from its former bed. Thc» dreadful earthquakes whieh happened in Calubria in 1638, isdescribed by the Father Kircher.—He was traveUing iu that part of Italy, and was nn eye witness to an in-1 discribable scene of terror, he wasat di(Terent timesdnringtwo days thrown prostrate on the grouud, nt other tiines being unab|e to stnnd, < supported hiinself by holding on to huehe», He thought to coutinue his jouruey to. Euphaeinia,which iay wilhin ash«rtdistance. Turning his eyvs toward that city» he could merely perceive a terrific dark cloud, whieh seemed to rest on ihe plaee.—Waiting unlil this sloud had possed aw»y, he looked for the city; but tt was totally sunk, and in its plaee n distnal putnd iake \vas to be seen. Such was ihe fate of the city of Euphae* mia; and such the devastating e(fectsof this earthquuke, that atoug the wholecoasto(that j part of italy, for the space of two hundred miles, theremainsofruinedtownsnnd v»llages were everv where to be seen. (u 1603, after several previov»s shocks, one » occurred on the llth of Janutsry, whieh in three or four :ninute.s entirely destroyed the oity of Catania, and 19.000 inhnbitants of tbe islartd of Sicily; the unduiations of this ' \vtre felt »n Gennany, France nnd even in : Englnnd. Fit>y.four towns were more or lf*B suHVrers by this earthqaßke nnd the to-1 tal loss ol human life amounted it is supposed, (o neariy 160,000. The e«rthquake nt Jawaica in the year 1692, was sttll mon? drendfult the earthrose und fell like wnves of the sea, aiid hundreds of ehaama were seen opening nnd closing aU ternately; many persom» were swallowed op m thr?e, and ?ome after i>eing buried alive, u*ere c «st otit again with torrenU of water. Un the norih side of the »sland the plantations. whieh covered upward of a thousand «cres, were swalloweti up and a lako apj>e«red in their plaee. Sevewl huudred thousuul tuns of ti:aber were brought down by the rivers frotn tho mountains and were seen strewed ou tlie Uee of the deep. The earthqu»kes in Siciiy and m the two Calabrias begao on theōth of Febroary 1783. a«d coutinued fire months doing «nHoUe dnmage $ir William Hamilton estiinated that the inorn)»ry occasioned by thm earthquai*e9 waa forty ihouwwl human iire?t. Huge »nountains weresevered nnd portions of them driv«n into the vaiieyft. In one piaee near Lanreano, two tracts of bnd, 9»tnated iu & icvel valley werc trv»nsporteil to the JisUncc of a miie wnh »11 thcir trecs a»»J

' o!tves etdl staoding. A tractof Uodon whieh a part of the city of Foli«teoa wa* boiit w»s 1 moved acioss a ravine to »boot balf a miie |from itsformerpoeit»on tvjtbsome hoodredsof houses and many of the inhabitaots. « In Upper Ca!abria a b»)l ocariy 400 feet i in bigth »s saīd to have beeo carned to tb< . di.«unce of tboot four roile« from where h stood, into a piain. The greit eartbquake of 1755 extende<i over a tract of at ieast foor milhons of «quarr miies, it pervaded the greater portions of the continents of Eompe, Afhca and Amehea. The eity of Lisboii was destroyed by i it—a'so a great part of the city of Algiers. 5 and manyothers, witb an mitnen»eio9S oflih. i At s*a tbe shocks oC th»s eartbquake were ; feit most violentiy. Capt Ciarke, from Denia, in north lutitude 36 ° 24' bad his sh»p shaken and strained as ifsbehadstruck ; upon a rock, so that tho seams op«ned, and i tbe compass was overtoroed. Another ship • 40 leagues westofSt. Vincent, wassostrong«' 'Iy »gitated that the anchors whieh were| bounced up, and the men were thrown \ a foot and a half up from the deck ; mnny other ve&?els were likewise agitated. in 1812 the city of Carncca», South, Amenea wiih upwards of thirty other towns,' ■ nnd buddtngs in theadjacenl country, to the : extent cf .100 $quare ruiles were completely ; over turoed in the sbort space of one tuioute,: and 60,000 persons k»lled, and tbousands more \vounded. The shocks continued for inuny months; soine so vio!ent as to rend several mountnins nssunder, fre\juently oe-; |curring at intervals of only five minutes for days together. ; it is curious to remark the eifects of such n calamity on the hun»nn »nind, accordmg os »t is influenced by reinor.<e or fear. In less thon two days after the fi«f blow of theearth-, quoke at Caraccas, two lhousnnd individuals were married who h«d previously lived in unhallowed nnion. Mnny poor relations who had hitherto been neglected, \vere sought; fornndacknowledge by their\vea!tby kir»dred; ; neglecled children \vere owned, and legiti-; mnle restilutioiis made, and law suits terir»innte; while tl»e timid nnd the depraved ae-' cused theniseleves ot concealed crimes—; o\vning murders they badcominitted; others rushed to fresh excesses, nnd to the perpetration of new enormittes.