fallen, clearly showing that it had been formed by the two sides being simply laid together, but not bonded.[1]
Generally speaking, houses built on a declivity, when not thrown down, are found injured on the side next the hill {dal lato della costa), which proves the utility of giving a contrary inclination to the foundation, as is usual in the analogous case of counterscarps (contraffortti) or revetments, and it was certainly to this circumstance that the monks of the monastery of St. Michael, in Monticchio, owed their safety; the building being partially ruined by the shocks, and menaced by the stones which were detached from the lofty overhanging rock, would surely have been precipitated into the lake beneath, had not the foundation been so judiciously built. When the amazed inhabitants of Melfi, who had escaped death, were collected together in the open air, and somewhat recovered from terror, they turned to the wreck of their native place, and endeavoured to seek out their homes, frequently rendered inaccessible, and set to work, looking for persons and furniture, beneath the ruins of overthrown buildings; they were speedily assisted in their search by people sent by the mayor of the province. Many were found dead, many wounded; the former received Christian burial, the latter were conveyed to hospitals erected at the most convenient places, and maintained by the charity of the survivors, and the care of government, with the aid of the medical men of the district, and the hard-working Sisters of Charity. The excavations being continued
- ↑ Solidity is indeed no protection against the rage of the earthquake; yet it is also true, that good buildings are not the first to fall, and that they at least allow the inhabitants time to escape. The episcopal palace was greatly injured; but still it is almost entirely standing, and there is scarcely any room fallen in: the square porch, with pillars and arches, constructed in an artistic manner, with hewn stones and good cement, permit the traveller still to behold this superb edifice, and to ascend and admire the room in which the council was held. We may say the same of the castle, which, with its rent sides, does not yet yield to the rapacity of centuries and the violence of nature, but still recalls the memory of its past grandeur. The steeple of the cathedral has, it is true, lost its summit, but it has resisted many earthquakes, and, lopped as it is, stands erect amidst the general ruin, three stories higher than the other buildings. We have seen another steeple, of Norman architecture, built of hewn stone, which stood erect beside the fallen church. The unhappy Acquilecchi was scarcely saved beneath a doorway in the midst of a heap of ruins, which buried all his family, for under the decorative exterior of his house old and badly-built walls were concealed.
