Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857 Vol 2.djvu/211

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150
CAPUA—MADALONE—NOLA—AVELLINO.

cina, and probably farther, it appeared desirable to endeavour to observe the progress of its becoming insensible in those directions, and of the effects, of the Pontine Marsh district, upon its progress beyond. I therefore prepared to return to England by Civita Vecchia, in place of by steamer direct from Naples; observing the extinct volcanic country south of Rome also by the way.

The railway carried me to Capua, where the shock was sharply felt, but no mischief done; nor could I observe or hear, of any fissures having been produced, nor articles of furniture noticed to have been disturbed. No noise was heard, nor any other unusual phenomena, beyond the one movement, which lasted several seconds, and was described as a succession of short horizontal undulations, in a direction about north and south. Some of the officers at the railway station said, it was reported that some injury had been done to the lofty aqueduct of Madalone, a structure of limestone ashlar, carrying water to Caserta Palace, over three tiers of semicircular arches, and nearly 200 feet in height. Its great elevation, and its direction in length being nearly transverse to the wave-path here, I thought it worth while to go out to examine it; but it did not present a single symptom of earthquake effect. The guard of troops on the spot had been changed since December, and those on duty could give no information.

At Madalone the account given me by the country people was much the same as at Capua; and at the Locanda there, they said that the earthquake had been felt at Aversa and Acerra just the same as at Madalone and at Caserta, but that at Nola and Avellino, they understood, it had been more severe, but no serious injury, if any, done. At Pie di Monte, close under the great mountain knot of