chasm opened its mouth, and closed again after swallowing the vessels and the crowded quay. The same phenomenon was observed in the earthquake of Calabria, which commenced in February, 1783, and repeated its shocks over an interval of nearly four years. In many places the ground was rent by fissures, which opened and then closed again, so that houses, trees, cattle, and men were engulfed. By this series of earthquakes the aspect of the country in some parts was entirely changed. In one case an extensive olive-ground and orchard were hurled a distance of two hundred feet, into a valley sixty feet in depth. A small inhabited house, standing on the mass of earth carried down, was uninjured; and the olive trees continued to grow on the land, and bore the same year an abundant In many cases disputes naturally arose as to whom the property, which had thus shifted its place, should belong. crop. Earthquakes are by no means unfrequent in Great Britain, but they are generally very slight. In March, 1871, the northern counties of England, and especially Lancashire, were more seriously visited. The undulation of the earth was clearly perceptible, and houses shook sufficiently to set the bells ringing and to throw down glass and china from the shelves of the cupboards. The west coast of America is particularly subject to earthquakes. In 1868, a series of very violent earthquakes shook the west coast of South America. The first shock was felt at Arica, a town on the coast of Peru; on the 13th August, 1868, the sea presented a very dull appearance, the air was unusually heavy, the gulls and other sea-fowl, after circling aloft with loud screams, at length quitted the bay. About a quarter to five in the afternoon a tremendous shock was felt. The houses were thrown down, the earth opened in fissures two or three inches in width, and belched forth Idust which darkened the air. The sea at first seemed to retire, and all the vessels in the bay were carried out to sea, anchors and chains snapping like packthread. In a few minutes, however, the outward current was stopped by a huge wave, about fifty feet high, which came in with a mighty rush, carrying all before it. The quay and mole were crowded with terror-stricken inhabitants, and before they could escape, two hundred were swept away. Several vessels were wrecked; but an American gunboat-the Wateree-was lifted up by an immense billow, and carried half a mile inland. There she was landed among the sandhills, perfectly upright, without a scratch, and not a man lost. At Callao, the port of Lima,3 three terrible shocks were felt, and the following graphic description is from the pen of an eye-witness :-"For full five minutes the heavy, rolling, rumbling shock continued, rocking the furniture, and even the houses themselves, with such violence that persons could hardly keep their feet, and an instantaneous rush was made for the street. Here the sight beggared1 description: all the affrighted people kneeling and praying in the open streets, crossing themselves, and falling in deep swoons full length on the pavement; women kneeling with both arms upraised, screaming and crying; the great bell of Santa Rosa church tolling and tolling, while the terrified people fled in crowds within the sacred enclosure, and the great steeple swayed and rocked as if every moment it would fall down and crush the affrighted masses. As far as the eye could see down the long narrow street, the very street rose and fell in long billowy undulations; while out in the bay the ships tossed up and down under the violence of the tremendous internal jar.5"-[Abridged from Lawson's Physical Geography (Oliver & Boyd)]. 1 Calabria. The peninsula in the S.E. of Italy. 2 Undulation.-Up-and-down movement like that of a wave [L. unda, wave]. 3 Lima.-The capital of Peru. Made Beggared description. any description seem poor and beggarInternal jar.-The clash or struggle within the earth. ly. RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD. I. THERE was a time' when meadow, grove, and stream, Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. II. The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose, Look round her when the heavens are bare : Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth, But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. III. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, To me alone there came a thought of grief: The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, Doth every beast keep holiday ; Thou child of joy, Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy! IV. Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the call The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee ; My head hath its coronal,2 The fulness of your bliss, I feel I feel it all. And the children are culling In a thousand valleys far and wide, -But there's a tree, of many, one, A single field which I have looked upon, Both of them speak of something that is gone : The pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? V. Our birth is but a sleep, and a forgetting: But trailing clouds of glory do we come But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, The youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's priest, Is on his way attended; At length the man perceives it die away, 3 VI. Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own ; The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster-child, her inmate man, VII. Behold the child among his new-born blisses, A mourning or a funeral ; And this hath now his heart, Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride The little actor cons another part; Filling from time to time his 'humorous stage There was a time.-The poet is lamenting that his spirit is not so much in harmony with joyous Nature as when he was a boy. Coronal (co-rd-nal).—A garland worn round the head on festal occasions. Nature's priest - So called because the boy delights in the sights and sounds of Nature, and the joy he feels is the best praise and worship that can be rendered her. Forget the glories, etc.-A mere poetic fancy that the soul has lived in a happier world before taking up its abode on earth. WORDSWORTH. Pigmy size.-Literally, of the size of a fist [Gr. pygme, the fist]." The little Actor cons, etc.-The child is compared to an actor, who having played one part, then learns another. Shakspeare says: "All the world's a stage, They have their exits, and their entrances; AS YOU LIKE IT. |