Note 69 — Chapter VI

Many instances may be found, both in ancient and modern history, of great changes having been produced on the surface of the earth, and on the coasts of the ocean, by hurricanes and earthquakes, as well as by the waters of the sea and by rivers. That piece of water, known by the name of the Dead Sea, arose by a fiery eruption from the earth; and in Egypt, along the northern bank of the Delta, and on both sides, there are large lakes, particularly the lakes Mœris and Serbau, which were indebted for their origin to storms, earthquakes, and inundations of the Nile. In Peloponnesus, or the present Morea, the cities of Helice, Bura, and some others in Achaia, were swallowed up by the sea, two years before the battle of Leuctra. Even in the eighteenth century, Callao in Peru was overwhelmed, and, with all its houses, inhabitants, and the ships in the harbour, became a prey to the waves of the ocean. The great changes effected by the earthquake in Calabria, are still fresh in the memory of every one: during that horrid catastrophe whole mountains and rocks were precipitated into the sea. F.