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of the difabled ships were towed up to the town the next day, and captain Scot, of the Scarborough, is appointed to convoy thofe that are able to put to fea, in the room of the Dolphin.

An Account of the death of a woman killed by a fudden and imperceptible eruption from the earth.

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Woman of the village of Bonne-Vallie, near Ventimilliat, aged about 37 years, was returning with four of her companions, from the foreft of Montenere, each being loaded with a bundle of fmall sticks and leaves, which they had been gathering. As foon as they arrived at a place called Gargan, this woman, two of her companions being before, and two behind her, fuddenly cried out with great vehemence, and immediately fell down with her face towards the ground. The person that was neareft to her obferved nothing more than ufual, except a little duft that rofe round her, and a flight motiou in fome little ftones that lay upon the fpot; they all ran immediately to her affiftance, but they found her quite dead; her cloaths, and even her fhoes were cut, or rather torn into flips, and scattered at the distance of five or fix feet round the body, fo that they wre obliged to wrap her up in a cloth, in order to carry her to the village.

Upon infpecting the body, the eyes appeared fixed and livid; there was a wound on the left fide of the os frontis, which left the pericra

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nium bare, and there were alfo many fuperficial fcratches upon face in ftrait lines. The region of the loins was livid, and a wound was difcovered there which had broken the os facrum; at fome diftance there was another wound, and both thefe wounds were in right lines, and very deep. On the left groin there was a wound which had divided all the teguments, and penetrated into the peritoneum; the epigastric and hypogaftric regions were livid; the teguments and mufcles of the right fide of the abdomen were deftroyed, and had given way to the inteftines; the os pubis was laid bare, and fractured, and the flesh was ftripped off quite to the hip, from whence the head of the os femoris had been broken off, and forced out of the focket, in which it is articulated; the muscles of the buttock and thigh were almost carried away, and what is yet more aftonifhing, notwithstanding this lofs of flesh, which could not be less than fix pounds, there was not the leaft drop of blood to be feen upon the fpot where the accident happened, nor the leaft fragment of the flesh that had been torn away.

It was fuppofed that this poor woman was killed by the eruption of a fubterraneous vapour, which iffued from the ground directly under her; a conjecture which feems the more probable, as, in the fummit of the mountain Montenere, there are two chinks, from which fmoke frequently iffues, and at the foot of the mountain there is a ful phureous fpring. It may eafily be

* Ventimillia or Ventimiglia, is a town of Liguria in Italy, now subject to the Genoese; it is in the neighbourhood of the Alps, called originally Alb, from their whire appearance.

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· An Account of the late Earthquakes in Syria. In a letter from Dr. Patrick Ruffel, dated the 7th of December 1759. From the Philofophical Tranfa&tions.

HE fpring of this year was unufually dry, the fummer temperate, and the autumn, though the rains came on towards the end of September, might be esteemed much drier than in other years. The Aleppo river has been very low all the fummer; and its bed, from the firft to the fecond mill, is, I believe, even now, still without water. This phænomenon I at firft thought remarkable; but have been informed that the scarcity of water complained of during all the fummer, was occafioned by driving the river in to fome rice-grounds lately formed toward Antab.

On the morning of June 10, a flight fhock of an earthquake was felt here, and as ufual, foon forgot; having, fo far as we know,

been felt in no other place, in any degree of feverity.

October the 30th, about four in the morning, we had a pretty fevere fhock (indeed the moft vialent I ever felt) which lafted fomewhat more than a minute, but did no damage in Aleppo. In about ten minutes after this firft, there was a fecond fhock; but the tremulous motion was lefs violent, and did not laft above 15 feconds. It had rained a little in the preceding evening; and when the earthquake happened, the west wind blew fresh, the fky was cloudy, and it lightened.

This earthquake occafioned a little alarm amongst the natives, and even with the Europeans was the topic only for a day. But the fubject was foon revived, by letters from Damafcus, where the fame fhock was felt by us at Aleppo, and several other fucceffive ones, had done confiderable damage. From this time, we had daily accounts of earthquakes from Damafcus, Tripoly, Seidon, Acri, and along the coaft of Syria; but fo exaggerated in fome circumstances, and fo inaccurate in all, that we only knew in general, that Damafcus, Acri, and Seidon, had fuffered injury from the earthquake, though less than was at first given out.

Such ftories circulating among the people, rendered them more fufceptible of alarm; and an occafion foon offered, where they feared, that the worst of their apprehenfions were to be realized.

This happened the 25th of November. The morning had been ferene, fome clouds arofe after noon, and the evening was remarkably hazy, with little or no wind. About half an hour after

feven at night, the earthquake came on the motion, at firft, was gently tremulous, increafing by degrees, till the vibrations became more diftinct, and, at the fame time, fo ftrong as to shake the walls of the house with confiderable violence; they again became more gentle, and thus changed alternately feveral times during the fhock, which lafted in all about two minutes. In about eight minutes after this was over, a flight shock, of a few feconds duration, fucceeded. The thermometer was at 50, and the barometer ftood at 28-9, the mercury fuffering no alteration. There was little or no wind in the night, the fky clear, excepting fome heavy clouds, that hung about the moon. At a quarter after four next morning, we had another fhock, which lafted fomewhat lefs than a minute, and was hardly fo ftrong as that of the preceding night. The night of the 26th was rainy and cloudy. At nine o'clock he had a flight fhock, of a few feconds. The motion here appeared to be very deep, and was rather undulatory than tremulous. The 27th, cloudy and rainy. From midnight of the 25th, befides thefe now mentioned, four or five flighter, fhocks were felt; but I myself was fenfible of none, till the morning of the 28th, when we had a fhort

pulfatory fhock. The fame day, at two o'clock, we had a pretty fmart fhock, lafting about forty feconds. From this time I was fenfible of no more, though others either felt or imagined feveral flight vibrations every day.

However violent this earthquake was, or rather by the frightened people of Aleppo, imagined to be,

VOL. IV.

it is certain, that excepting a very few old walls, the city bears no fresh marks of ruin; none of the oldeft minorets† have fuffered. Its effects at Antioch were more formidable; many houfes have been thrown down, and fome few people killed.

December 7. The earthquake of the evening of the 25th, has proved fatal to Damafcus; one-third of the city was thrown down, and of the people numbers yet unknown perifhed in the ruins. The greater part of the furviving inhabitants fled to the fields, where they fill continued, being hourly alarmed by fighter fhocks, which deterred them from re-entering the city, or attempting the relief of fuch as might yet be faved, by clearing away the rubbish. Such was the purport of a letter I read this day, which was wrote from Damafcus three days after the earthquake. Other accounts we have at this place, make the lofs of the inhabitants amount to 30000; but, in circumftances of fuch general horror and confufion, little accuracy can be expected, and the eastern difpofition to exaggeration reigns, at prefent, univerfally.

Tripoly has fuffered rather more than Aleppo; three minorets, and two or three houses, were thrown down while the walls of numbers. of the houses were rent. The Franks, and many of the natives, have deferted the city, and remain in the fields.

At Seidon, great part of the Frank kane was overthrown, and fome of the Europeans narrowly efcaped with their lives. Acri and Latakea have fuffered little, befides rents in fome of the walls; but

The fpires of the Turkish mofques or churches. H

Saphet

Saphet (eight hours from Acri) was totally destroyed, together with the greater part of the inhabitants."

Such are the most authentic accounts we have from abroad; how much they contribute to calm the minds of the people at Aleppo, you may easily imagine. Since the afternoon of the 28th, feveral flight fhocks have been every day felt, and many more formed by the power of imagination: for my own part, I have fince that time perceived none, excepting one the evening of the 5th, which was pretty ftrong, but lafted not above twenty feconds. The weather, for thefe two days, has been gloomy and rainy; a change which people are willing to flatter themfelves is favourable. It often lightens in the night, and thunder is heard at a great diftance.

Extract of another letter from Dr. Patrick Ruffel, to Dr. Alexander Rufet, dated at Aleppo, 29 March, .176).

N my laft, of the 7th of December, I gave you a full account of the earthquakes, which have occafioned an universal panic all over Syria. There were feveral other fhocks in December, and a few very flight ones in January: fince which time, all has been quiet.

Excepting a few old houfes, nope of the buildings in Aleppo were actually thrown down; but the walls of a confiderable number of houfes have been rent.

We have had the wettest winter I ever faw in this country. The Coic has every where overflowed its banks, and is juft now much higher than it has been known to rife for many years.

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quakes and eruptions, which hap pened laft April 1761, in the ifland of Terceira, one of the A In a letter from Mr. James Fearns, his majesty's conful there. To which are added, Dr. Mitchell's conjectures concerning the cause of earthquakes and volcanos in ge neral.

Ince the laft of November we

and on

have felt feveral earthquakes, and on the 31st of March the fea rofe to a great height, and fell again fo low, that the quays were left dry; all the lighters and fhingboats that were hauled up into Por to Rico, were carried down into the bay, and broke to pieces upon the rocks. On the 14th of April, we had four fmall earthquakes; the 15th, about one in the morning, we were all raised out of our beds by a violent fhock; from which time, the earth was almost continually trembling, till the evening of the 17th, when we had two other violent fhocks, attended with noifes like the discharging of cannon. Thefe, though they increafed our fear, yet they feemed to have a good effect upon the earth; for afterwards tremblings were not fo frequent. The next morning news was brought that there was a great fmoke feen about 3 leagues to the N. W. of this city, which was foon confirmed by noifes like thunder at a distance, which feemed to proceed from the fame place. Several people were fent to examine it, but fo great were the tremblings of the earth, and the smoke aid the noifes, that they durft not approach near enough to give a regular account. This continued three days, in which we were continually alarmed with earthquakes, or the faid dreadful noifes. On the 20th

we

We had three fhocks that exceeded any we had yet felt, in which the noifes were fo loud, and the agitations of the earth fo violent, that every body thought it was opening under their feet; and foon after account was brought, that fire was burst out of the ground, about half a league to the eastward of the aforefaid fmoke. This gave us new alarms, which were increafed almost every hour, with accounts, that rivers of fire had iffued out of the volcanos, and that fome of them directed their course towards this city. On the 23d I went to fee it, and found, that the accounts we had heard were not exaggerated the firft fight of it was fo dreadful, that fome of our company durft not proceed; but I was determined to approach as near as poffible; and accordingly went forward, with a clergyman in that neighbourhood. When we were as near as we could go for the heat, we got upon an eminence, from whence we had a profpect of the whole. It is impoffible for the imagination to form fo horrible a fight as prefented itself to our views from thence. There were three large volcanos, at a confiderable diftance from each other (the mouth of one of them was at least fifty yards long) from all parts of which proceeded dreadful bellowings like thunder, and vaft quantities of red hot ftones and flakes of fire: and all round about was a large burning lake, out of which proceeded feveral rivers, the principal ones directing their courfes about N. W. the larger ftones fell generally near the place from whence they iffued, but the fmaller ones were thrown up to an incredible height, and by the wind were forced on one fide,, which had already raifed three large

hills. The clattering of the ftones in the air, the terrible thunderings from below the lake, rivers of liquid fire, and the earth continually fhaking under our feet, produced a fcene too dreadful to be described. When we had taken a view of this, we joined our company, and went to the N. W. fide to fee the rivers of fire: the three large ones were near a mile in breadth, and all die rected their courfe towards the town of Biscouto. As the country was almost even, the motion of the two last was very flow; but the first had run near two leagues from the volcano, and was got into a more declining ground, which made its motion fwifter. It is impoffible to exprefs the confternation and diftresses of the inhabitants of this part of the ifland, particularly thofe of Bifcouto: the firft river was almost entering their town, which they had already abandoned; and the two others that came behind, threatened to overwhelm the adjacent country; for they run in a head of at leaft four yards high, and left no fign of either tree or houfe that flood in their way. This was the ftate of things on the 23d. But on the 24th, it pleafed the Almighty to abate the force of the fire, and foon after the rivers began to have a flower motion: they moved along however, for feveral day's, and part of the firft entered the town of Bifcouto, where it burnt about one third of the houses, and then directed its courfe into a valley on one fide, where it continued its motion four or five days, and then ftopped. I fend you this to fatisfy you for the prefent; when the rivers, &c. are cooled, I shall go again and examine them thoroughly, and then I fhall give you a more regular account.

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