such," winding up with observations àpropos
to such insinuations.

I had distributed fifty ducats, according to
the best of my judgment, and had placed
twenty piastres on the ground by my side,
when, all of a sudden, my fat clerical friend
had got on my shoulders, and was making a l
ong arm to get at my money. The people,
too, like hungry dogs, were all crowding upon
me, had pulled off my cravat in their greedy
anxiety to get something, and had torn the
buttons out of my shirt. A man in the crowd
called out, " You are in danger." I directly
made a snatch at my money, jerked the priest
off my shoulders,—for you see I am a strong
man,—and made a rush for it, knocking down
forty or fifty people in my way. On getting
out of the church I drew a six-barrel revolver,
and called out, "Keep off, or I will fire," and
in this way made myself master of the position.

Hearing of some noble ladies who were
reduced to great distress by the earthquake,
I got a man to accompany me to their
ruined dwelling, a vast crowd of poor, of all
grades, following. On arriving, I found an
elderly and a younger lady almost without
clothes. The latter was one of the most beautiful
persons I ever met with, and it went to my heart
to see two well-born and well-educated ladies
thus seated, almost amidst the falling walls
of their house, and willing to accept the
relief which I offered them. I could not help
reflecting, as I left Sarcone, what the Roman
Catholic religion had done for its inhabitant
during fifteen centuries, and I told them,
" You are fierce animals; you are not
Christians."

I alluded above to the classical interest
which surrounds Sarcone, for two thousand
years ago it belonged to the old city of
Grumentum, of which various authors, as Pliny
and Livy, speak. The latter, in book twenty-
seven, chapter forty-seven:—" Not to meet
the Romans in the Bruzz, Hannibal passed
into Lucania, and particularly to Grumentum,
hoping to recover some cities which had
passed to the Romans. The Consul Claudius
Nero, following him, besieged him. Hannibal
had encamped under the walls of Grumentum;
the army of the Romans, about five hundred
passi distant from the Carthaginians. *   *   *
The Carthaginians began to fly, and being
followed, left eight thousand dead on the field,
seven hundred prisoners, nine standards,
four elephants killed and two taken!" A
great variety of articles belonging to both
armies had been found in this neighbourhood,
and the Notary of Saponara speaks,
amongst other things, of an elephant's tooth
having been turned up. Whether the people
have made any advance since the day when
they routed Hannibal may well be doubted,
for they are in a half savage state, despite
the light of what is by courtesy called
Christianity, and of the exertions of an
all-powerful priesthood. A specimen of that
body I have given you, and I might repeat
his likeness over and over again.

From Sarcone I returned to Saponara; and,
before leaving this place, I must mention two
or three of the distressing cases. The judge
had been buried under the stones of his house,
with his wife and child, but he managed to
make his voice heard, and one of his people
procured assistance, and endeavoured to dig
him out. His body had been cleared as far as
his middle, when his young wife was found
lying across his knees. As soon as the
rubbish had been cleared, the poor judge took
her in bis arms, but she was already dead.
Unlike an Italian, his  manner was utterly
undemonstrative—he seemed to be crushed;
looking at her, he only said: " Eleonora, cara,
tu sei morta! " and a groan escaped him.
His child, too, was killed. When I saw him,
perhaps about a month after, he had never
spoken of the event to any one, nor had he
ever smiled. He did all the duties of his
office, however, punctually, and took my part
manfully against the monks. I took his
hand and expressed my deep sympathy with
him, but he answered not a word—he only
returned my pressure. The Notary of the
same place took me into a corner of his hut,
and related his own story. It was as follows:
He had been a man of considerable property,
living in a good house, one part of which was
occupied by himself and his second wife, and
another part by two daughters by the first
wife, who were much attached to him.
When the first shock of earthquake came he
was asleep in bed, and waking up, he called to
his wife. They had heard no previous sound.
Then came a second shock, and all came down."
We fell close to a door which opened
into the street," he said, " and it happened
to be open. I could have got out, but my
wife held me back, and thus both were saved
under the arch of the door. The noise of
the falling of the house was that of a
tremendous crash, like the rushing of a cataract,
and this was followed by the stillness of
death. The street itself was obscured by a
cloud of dust. I called for my daughters,"
he continued, " but there was no answer. I
scrambled towards their part of the house,
but everything was buried, and when they
were found, they were seated in their chairs,
for they had not yet gone to bed. I thought
the day of judgment had come. In a half
dreaming, half waking state, but utterly
confused, I called again and again for my
children, and then I listened for the crowing of
a cock, as if to mark the time, but during
that night no cock crowed!"

In Saponara alone two thousand persons
had been buried.

Thence, resumes Mr. Major, I went on
to Montemurro, where six thousand persons
had been buried, and a melancholy sight it
presented, indeed. There was nothing left.
The stench from the dead bodies was almost
insufferable, for they had been but slightly