408 GREAT LISBON AND CALABRIAN EARTHQUAKES 
had spared, sweeping harmless by. But, alas! it was only for a 
moment. The vast structure itself, with the whole of its living bur- 
den, sank instantaneously into an awful chasm which opened under- 
neath. The mole and all who were on it, the boats and barges 
moored to its sides, all of them filled with people, were in amoment 
ingulfed. Not a single corpse, not a shred of raiment, not a plank 
nor a splinter floated to the surface, and a hundred fathoms of 
water covered the spot. To the first great sea-wave several others 
succeeded, and the bay continued for a long time in a state of 
tumultuous agitation, 
About two hours after the first overthrow of the buildings, a 
new element of destruction came into play. The fires in the 
ruined houses kindled the timbers, and a mighty conflagration, 
urged by a violent wind, soon raged among the ruins, consuming 
everything combustible, and completing the wreck of the city. 
This fire, which lasted four days, was not altogether a misfortune. 
It consumed the thousands of corpses which would otherwise have 
tainted the air, adding pestilence to the other misfortunes of the 
survivors. Yet they were threatened with an enemy not less 
appalling, for famine stared them in the face. Almost everything 
eatable within the precincts of the city had been consumed. A set 
of wretches, morever, who had escaped from the ruins of the 
prisons, prowled among the rubbish of the houses in search of 
plunder, so that whatever remained in the shape of provisions fell 
into their hands and was speedily devoured. They also broke into 
the houses that remained standing, and rifled them of their con- 
tents. It is said that many of those who had been only injured 
by the ruins, and might have escaped by being extricated, were 
ruthlessly murdered by those merciless villains.