The Express.
London, England, 1858-01-14 00:00:00

ITALY.

T►IF. I"..iILTHQU.%:.E IN NAPLES.

Otos of I owx

PIST.)

NAPLES, ha. 3.

The following report of a gentleman whir returned
wa Saturday last from the scene of suffering will be
bund to great interest, and, as nearly as
poseihle, =it in his own word.:
The first point of interest we waived at was
Auletta, only thirteen hours distant from Naples,
but as it lies a little off the road, we kft it till sot
ralkcn, and went oa to l'irtoss, n <immune with a
popi.lation of LW souls. For about two miles be-
row we entered it there were evident signs of earth-
quake. lln either ride of the road, houses lay pros-
trate uud abandoned ; at the immediate entrance of
the town we found what hod been a tavern, but the
people had abandoned it and were living in a species
of barn on the other side of the road. The inn-
keeper gave as the following 'mount of his escape.
.1 was in bed when the first awful shock took place,
and leaping out in toy shirt, dragged my wife with
me, but escape by the door was impossible, as beams
had fallen before it. There my child and its nurse
had perished. Turning uff to the lilt, I got
out by some other way.' Peruke itself is
completely destroyed not more than six
hour's remain standing, and those are all
leaping- out of the perpendicular, and aro cracked.
Already they had dug out 113 bodies on the Ist of
January, and 200 more were known to be missing :
the number of strangers was unknown. Many per-
k/01P were dog out save. Tents were being erected,
and a wooden hospital for the sick and wounded.
A quantity of grain had been sent also, by order of
the government. The whole population who had
survived seemed to be panic and sorrow struck, 6o
much so that no one begged. A drive of two hours
brought us to Polk, situated on the side of a hill,
with a river flowing at i a foot • but before arriving
at it, about two miles distant irom the city, there ts
a deep ravine, which we crowed. The road, which
runs at right angles to it on the opposite side, had
been cursed away cm mass. for about 200 palms,
and the hill on the other side of the ravine had been
cleft in two, so that we looked in and saw numerous

caverns formed in the limeetides. Large masse, of
rock, full 12 firet square, had rolled down from the
heights on the road. In many. parts of this neigh-
bourhood were large fissures tn the ground into
which I could plunge my arm up to the
shoulder. The first object that struck us on
altering Polla wu a wall about ten feet
high, with an image of the Virgin let in to it.
This wall was split from top to bottom. The suburb
of Polla, separated from it by a river, is called San
Pietro, and both had suffered equally. Half the
houses were prostrate, almost all had the roofs
Wien in, and those which remained standing were
perfectly unsafe. The population of this place
amount; to 7,000, and already 667 bodies had been
deg up and buried in the Campo Santo, and they
were still excavating, for nearly a thousand were
missing. Already had a considerable shock been felt
throughout the district early in the morning, and it
was now about half-past twelve p.m., Jan. 1, when
we were standing on the ruins of a house talking to
some people. On our right hand was standing the
single wall of a campanile (belfry tower) about two
wines high, and not fee on the other side a leaning
house. In a moment we heard a heavy subterranean
thunder, and felt the ground heave violently under
our feet. • Earthquake. Earthquake!' was the cry,
sad we all ran from the spot as rapidly as possible.
The leaning house fell to the ground within
twenty feet of us, and the Delray fell almost
upon our heels. A woman who was with
us became hysterical, and I bad great dif-
ficulty in recovering her. The scene that then
followed was remarkable. The priests brought out
a crucifix and the statue of the Madonna, and,
together with the entire population, formed in pro-
ceesion, everyone scourging himself with a rope
as
observed no tent* ;et erected, but some
were being put up. Many of the poor population
had takes refuge, by day at least, in houses which
were falling, and were perfectly leaven ; and here
buying and selling were going on. Whilst looking
on, a tire broke out in the ruins, to which a priest
directed my attention, but it was an incident of a
trifling character, and as such was treated. We had
left the town, and were sitting on a wall near the
bridge, talking with some priests, who remonstrated
with us for our carelessness. The ground was con-
tinually in a tremulous state, and the wall might be
thrown down. About a quarter-past 1 p.m.,aod whilst
we were there, a third violent shock came, and this,
too, was felt throughout the entire district. All the
plans on high ground suffered much more than
those on the level; and I must cot omit to mention
that in some places the stench from the disinterred
bodies was insufferable. Pella was the extent of
oar trip, and thence we returned to Auletta, situated
ea the top of a bill, and p messing a population
of about 3,000 souls. lien not more than 40 line
bad been lost. The city, however, had been mob
shaken. Nearly half the bones were destroyed, and
one half were not fit to live in, were cracked, and
sending out of :he perpendicular. Auletta is inhabited
principally by government Aerials. A large pe-
ke= belonging to Ms:theses —,and rented by the
goverment, was prostrate, only the outside walls
standing. That was my room,, said a print. I
bad time to neaps in my shirt, together with my
brother, whsa the whole fell io.' A gendarme saved
hiwaelf by jumping out of the window.' Outside
Use town a few huts had been erected, but eons
still clung to their falling houses. Here as else-
where, we experiesced the greatest civility from
this suffering people. At about four miles distant
from Au!etta, co the top of a hill, we could perceive
Caggiono, where many houses had been destroyed,
and 30 people had been already dugout; indeed,
throughout the vauntry, prostrate houses were
everywhere visible, and each had lost its two, three,
or four tenants. The last point we stopped at was
that at which we slept on the first night of our trip,
Tiperno. But I have omitted to mention that on leav-
ing Pettus we went into some ruined houses,
and on the wane discovered fear pictures
of the Madonna soil of saints still remaining. Ode
I tore offend took with me. a' a great eura-ity, for
it records the visitation of Polla by earthquakes two
several times, and i. engraved in honour of a cele-
brated image of the Madonna, placed in the very
church on the ruins of which we were standing when
we felt the shock of earthquake. In Tiperno the
people were too much alarmed to sleep in their
houses, bat we risked it, and had it all to our-
melees. During our trip we heard, amongst other
extraordinary caprices of the earthquake, that a tree
had been thrown out with its roots in the air, and
the top part planted in the ground—houses had been
similarly treated, and some had been swallowed up
in the gaps which had opened. Our guide at Poll*
had lost his wife and two children ; a gendarme had
been dug up alive, but had died ; a child of sixteen
months had been dug up alive, and was recovering."
From other sources I hear that children had been
alien out alive with pirtious of their bodindeeoured
by pigs.

On the evening of the 26th ult. the little village
of Sasso, consisting of one long htreet, opened
right in the middle: the houses receded one
horn the other, and thus remain uninjured,
with a considerable interval between them. Sasso
had already suffered much from the shocks which took
place on the Inth of December. The qffirialJeteritsi
of Saturday nielt reports disasters us Orme., CIF
cello, Mare, %neer°, Santa Fede, Caste!etude, and
Ruvo. Oa the 7th December, during the night, a
heavy aubterraneone thunder had been heard by ail
the inhabitants—it was compared to the explosion of
a mine, and was followed bT a momentary shock.
In the commune of Bella, the following remarkable
facts occurred on the evening of the 16th. The hills
were levelled, the land was turned over and over, and
deep valleys were formed. Half an hour before the
int shock, a light as of the moon hung over the
whole neighbourhood, accompanied by a strong
smell of sulphur. On the following morning
• piss of ground 600 'noggin in extent
was found, encircled by a deep trench from
10 to 30 palms in depth and the same in width.
The Ogirial Journal of last night says: " The de-1
script ion which the Intendente of Basilicata gives us
of the places afflicted by the earthquake, and visited
by him for the purpose of making provision, is
such that every word draws team. In the