This chasm remained open after the
shock, and was somewhat in the form of an amphitheatre, 500 feet long
and 200 feet in depth.
MOST CALAMITOUS OF THE LANDSLIPS
The most calamitous of the landslips occurred on the sea-coast of the
Straits of Messina, near the celebrated rock of Scilla, where huge
masses fell from the tall cliffs, overwhelming many villas and gardens.
At Gian Greco a continuous line of precipitous rocks, nearly a mile in
length, tumbled down. The aged Prince of Scilla, after the first great
shock on the 5th of February, persuaded many of his vassals to quit
the dangerous shore, and take refuge in the fishing boats--he himself
showing the example. That same night, however, while many of the people
were asleep in the boats, and others on a flat plain a little above the
sea-level, another powerful shock threw down from the neighboring Mount
Jaci a great mass, which fell with a dreadful crash, partly into the
sea, and partly upon the plain beneath. Immediately the sea rose to a
height of twenty feet above the level ground on which the people were
stationed, and rolling over it, swept away the whole multitude. This
immense wave then retired, but returned with still greater violence,
bringing with it the bodies of the men and animals it had previously
swept away, dashing to pieces the whole of the boats, drowning all that
were in them, and wafting the fragments far inland. The prince with
1,430 of his people perished by this disaster.
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