Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857 Vol 2.djvu/264

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
MELFI EARTHQUAKE OF 1851.
203

that by glancing at the map which delineates the region in which the earthquake was most felt, he may compare these data with the distances from Melfi:—

1. Melfi.

2. Barieli and Rapolla.

3. Rionero.

4. Atella, Ginestra, Ripacandida, Venosa, Monteverde, Lavello, Ascoli, Canosa, Candela, Carbonara.

6. Towns difficult to classify, as Trani, Barletta, Cerignola, Lacedogna, Bisaccia.

7. All the remaining places marked on the map suffered scarcely any injury, and in some of them no trace of the earthquake remains, except the recollection of terror, in the minds of the inhabitants.

From this scale, and from inspection of the map, it is evident that the shocks of the 14th of August (the only ones which really did any injury, the others being of slight intensity) must have been propagated with greater force on the line of the Ofanto so as to affect Canosa, very distant from Melfi, and to arrive still vigorous on the coast of the Adriatic, injuring Trani and Barletta; but we must remember the other earthquakes which occurred in September and October, in Terra d'Otranto, which extended to the province of Bari, giving new shocks to those places which had partially suffered in the earthquakes of Melfi.

A shock of earthquake was felt in Canosa, on the night of the 6th and 7th of September, which was not perceived in Melfi, Barieli, Rapolla, Rionero, &c. The earthquake which destroyed Vallona and other cities of Albania, with the loss of 2,000 human beings, was strongly felt in Terra d'Otranto, and extended also, although weakened, through the province of Bari. We affirm these facts without positively denying the possibility of the propagation of earthquake waves in one way more than another, even in a plain like that of Puglia, of the same geological formation, at least on the surface. But this greater elongation of force towards the Adriatic, does not weaken the observation relative to the decrease of power along the chain of the Apennines, a fact which agrees with others of the same kind in various places, as recorded by Humboldt.