[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

CLIMBING SANTO PEAK I8 I

esque indeed with its Violet shadows and reddish
rocks. The only level ground to be seen was at
the mouths of the valleys in the shape of little river
deltas.

The village to which we were going was on one
of these deltas. Hardly had we set foot on shore
than a violent earthquake almost threw us to the
ground. The shock lasted for at least thirty seconds,
then we heard a dull rumbling as/of thunder, and saw
how all along the coast immense masses of earth fell
into the sea from the high cliffs, so that the water
boiled and foamed wildly. Then yellow smoke came
out of all the bays, and hung in heavy clouds over
the devastated spots, and veiled land and sea. 'Inland,
too, we saw many bare spots, where the earth and
trees had slipped down. The shocks went on all
night, though with diminished violence, and we
continually heard the thunderous rattling of falling
rocks and earth.

Next day we stopped at the village of Wus, and
I persuaded a dainty damsel (she was full-grown,
but only 1344 cm. high) to make me a specimen
of pottery. It was finished in ten minutes, without
any tool but a small, flat, bamboo splinter. Without
using a potter’s wheel the lady rounded the sides
of the jar very evenly, and altogether gave it a
most pleasing, almost classical shape.

When we returned south we could see what
damage the earthquake had done. All the slopes
looked as if they had been scraped, and the sea was
littered with wood and bushes. We also experienced