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Show CHAPTER XIV. . · · alluvl.l lm an d the ruins caused by landslips- Imbedding of orgamc remams m d r Terrestrial animals most abun· Effects of sudden inundations-Of lan sdl~.s- where earthquakes prevail- _, . 11 vium and lan s Ips, dantly preserveu m a u . f:· verlooking this circumstance-On . h' ch may arise wm o . Erroneous theones w 1 • 11 · 1 deposits-Imbedding of orgamc . f k of art included m a tlVlll . the remams o wor se mam. s m. blown san d-Temple of Ipsambul on the Nile-bodies and human r ' . d . the sands of the African deserts-Towns _ . . f animals bune m . . Dned carcasses o . E l d a ld France-1m beddmg of orgamc h 1 d b sand floods m <.ng an 1 overw e mde Y1 s of · art in volcam.c "lO rma f ns on the land-Cities and their 10 bodies an wor { f . ted matter-by lava-In tuffs or mud inhabitants buried by showers o eJeC composed of volcanic sand and ashes. IN cont.m u.m g our m. ves ti'gation of the manner in which 1th .e . l nd vegetable creation leave permanent marks of t lelr ~maa · existence on t h e emerg ed lands' we have next to examme, The imbedding of o·rgam.c 1'emat·n s t·n .a ll uv ium' and the ruins caused by landsltps. We restrict the term alluvium to such transported matter l been thrown down, whether by rivers, floods, or other acsa ulsaess , upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes or seas. . The alluvium of the bed of a river does not oft~n contam .an: . etable remains, for the whole mass IS so contm~ ammal .o r. veg· 1· and the attri.t i.O n o f the various parts 1s ally slnftmg Its P ace, l t · d in it are, at . t that even the hardest roc (S con ame d d so grea ' d But when sand, mu 'an length, ground down to pm~ er. fl. d and then Jet fall upon rubbish, are suddenly swept y a oo ' the remains the land, such an alluvium .may ~nvelop trees b:r permanently of animals, which may' m this manner, preserved. f ter which had been The sudden descent of a body o wa l k . Vermont, . 'ld. f maaem discharged by a small arttfiCia ram ro 'd alley with the . d S . 1810 covered a wi e v in the Umte tates, m , h higher country. spoils of the land washed down from t e Ch. XIV.] VILLA<.ms IIURfgD RY LANDSLJPS. Deep accumulations of mud and sand were spread far and wide, and, in some places, deposits of timber were heaped up, from twenty to eighty feet in height*. Analogous results happen, from time to time, when the course of a river has been obstructed by landslips, volcanic ejections, masses of ice, or other impediments, and when the waters of temporary lakes so caused burst through the barrier. Besides these indirect effects, the landslip, by suddenly precipitating large masses of rock and soil into a valley, overwhelms a multitude of animals, and sometimes buries permanently whole villages, with their inhabitants and large herds of cattle. Thus three villages, with their entire population, were covered, when the mountain of Piz fell in 1772, in the district of Treviso, in the state of Venice t ; and part of Mount Grenier, south of Chambery, in Savoy, which fell down in the year 1~48, buried five parishes, including the town and church of St. Andre, the ruins occupying an extent of about nine square miles j. The number of lives lost by the slide of the Rossberg, in Switzerland, in 1806, was estimated at more than eight hundred, a great number of the bodies being buried under mud and rock, at great depths, as well as several villages and scattered houses. In the same country, several hundred cottages, with eighteen of their inhabitants and a great number of cows, goats, and sheep, were victims to the sudden fall of a bed of stones, thirty yards deep, which descended from the summits of the Diablerets. In the year 1618, a portion of Mount Conto fell, in the county of Chiavenna in Switzerland, and buried the town of Pleurs with all its inhabitants, to the number of two thousand four hundred and thirty. It is unnecessary to multiply examples of similar local catastrophes, which, however numerous they may nave been in the mountainous parts of Europe, within the historical period, have been; nevertheless, of rare occurrence in comparison to * Ed. New Phil. Journ., No. III.,l46. t Malte-Brun's Geog., vol. i., 435, l Bakewell, Travels in the Ta.rentaise, vol. i., p. 201, |