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tersigned by that prelate; and to that document he owes the removal of many difficulties that might otherwise have seriously impeded his progress and means of observation.

The interval caused by the delay of the Neapolitan Government before granting its authorization to proceed, was occupied by the author, partly in providing, with the kind assistance of some British residents at Naples, a suitable and trustworthy staff of persons to accompany him, and amongst these an interpreter who could converse readily in the provincial dialects of the Capitanatas, Basilicata, Bari, and Calabria, and in providing, with the requisite forethought, all the camp and cooking equipage, blankets, food, medicines, and the means of their convenient transport upon mules through a rough and mountainous country, of which large tracts were expected, and were in the end actually found to be, destitute (as a consequence of the earthquake) of either shelter or provisions.

The remainder of the time was employed in making and recording observations and collecting information as to the phenomena of the earthquake, as it was felt in and around the city of Naples, and its immediate neighbourhood, and in seeking for evidence along the shores of the bay, from Pozzuoli to Castellamare, of recent change of level of the land, traceable to the shock. Arrangements were also provisionally made with an eminent French photographer at Naples for his following the probable track of the author, and obtaining a series of photographic views of such scenes and objects as might illustrate the results of the expedition; and the author wrote home requesting the sanction of the Council of the Royal Society to his obtaining the