This May
Be Illustrated By Placing Books Edgeways On A Carpet, And
Then, After The Manner Suggested By Michell, Imitating The
Undulations Of An Earthquake:
It will be found that they fall
with more or less readiness, according as their direction more
or less nearly coincides with the line of the waves.
The
fissures in the ground generally, though not uniformly, extended
in a S.E. and N.W. direction, and therefore corresponded
to the lines of undulation or of principal flexure. Bearing in
mind all these circumstances, which so clearly point to the
S.W. as the chief focus of disturbance, it is a very interesting
fact that the island of S. Maria, situated in that quarter, was,
during the general uplifting of the land, raised to nearly
three times the height of any other part of the coast.
The different resistance offered by the walls, according to
their direction, was well exemplified in the case of the
Cathedral. The side which fronted the N.E. presented a grand
pile of ruins, in the midst of which door-cases and masses
of timber stood up, as if floating in a stream. Some of the
angular blocks of brickwork were of great dimensions; and
they were rolled to a distance on the level plaza, like
fragments of rock at the base of some high mountain. The side
walls (running S.W. and N.E.), though exceedingly fractured,
yet remained standing; but the vast buttresses (at
right angles to them, and therefore parallel to the walls that
fell) were in many cases cut clean off, as if by a chisel, and
hurled to the ground.
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