ns the
Orinoco, between the towns San Pedro de Alcantara and San Francisco de
Aripao, an earthquake, on St. Matthew's day 1790, caused a sinking in of
the granitic soil, and left a lake 800 yards in diameter, and from
eighty to one hundred in depth. It was a portion of the forest of Aripao
which subsided, and the trees remained green for several months under
water.[660]

_Sicily_, 1790.--On the 18th of March in the same year, at S. Maria di
Niscemi, some miles from Terranuova, near the south coast of Sicily, the
ground gradually sunk down for a circumference of three Italian miles,
during seven shocks; and, in one place, to the depth of thirty feet. It
continued to subside to the end of the month. Several fissures sent
forth sulphur, petroleum, steam, and hot water, and a stream of mud,
which flowed for two hours, and covered a space sixty feet long and
thirty broad. This happened far from both the ancient and modern
volcanic district, in a group of strata consisting chiefly of blue
clay.[661]

_Java_, 1786.--About the year 1786, an earthquake was felt at intervals,
for the period of four months, in the neighborhood of Batur, in Java,
and an eruption followed. Various rents were formed, which emitted a
sulphurous vapor; separate tracts sunk away, and were swallowed by the
earth. Into one of these the rivulet Dotog entered, and afterwards
continued to follow a subterraneous course. The village of Jampang was
buried in the ground, with thirty-eight of its inhabitants, who had not
time to escape. We are indebted to Dr. Horsfield for having verified the
above-mentioned facts.[662]

CHAPTER XXVIII.

EARTHQUAKE IN CALABRIA, 1783.

Earthquake in Calabria, February 5, 1783--Shocks continued to the
end of the year 1786--Authorities--Area convulsed--Geological
structure of the district--Difficulty of ascertaining changes of
level--Subsidence of the quay at Messina--Movement in the stones of
two obelisks--Shift or fault in the Round Tower of
Terranuova--Opening and closing of fissures--Large edifices
engulfed--Dimensions of new caverns and fissures--Gradual closing in
of rents--Bounding of detached masses into the
air--Landslips--Buildings transported entire to great distances--New
lakes--Funnel-shaped hollows in alluvial plains--Currents of
mud--Fall of cliffs, and shore near Scilla inundated--State of
Stromboli and Etna during the shocks--How earthquakes contribute to