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place . The hermits were absent on a pilgrimage to tbe abbey of Einsideln . u The disastrous consequences of this event extend further than the
loss of such a number of inhabi . tants in a canton of little population . A fertile plain is at once converted into a barren tract of rocUs and calcareous earth , and
the former marks and boundaries of property are obliterated . The main road from Art to Schweitz is completely filled up , so that another must be opened with great labour over the Rigi- The former
channel of a large stream is choak - ed up , arid its course altered ; and as the outlets and passages of large bodies of water must be affected by the filling up of such a
portion of the lake , the neighbouring villages are still trembling with the apprehension of some remote consequences , against which they know not how to provide . Several hundred men have been
employed in opening passages for the stagnant waters , in forming a new road for foot passengers along the Rigi , and in exploring the ruin £ The different cantons have contri - buted to the relief of'the suffering canton of Schweitz , and every head is at work tocontrive irieahs
to prevent further disasters . " The number of inhabitants buried alive under the ruins of this mountain is scarcely less than fifteen hundred . ' Some even
estimate it as high as two thousand . Of these , a womaii and two children have been found alive , after having been several days under
ground * Ihey affirm that while they were thus entombed , they heard the cries of poor creatures who were perishing around them , for want of that succour which
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they were so happy as to receive . Indeed , it is the opinion of many well-informed people , that a large number might still be recoveredand a writer in the Publiciste goes so far as to blame the inactivity
of tbe neighbouring inhabitants ; and quotes many well . attested facts to prove , that persons have lived a long time buried under snow and earth . This at least , is probable in the present case ;
tbat many houses exposed to a lighter weight than others , may have been merely a little crushed , while the lower story , which , in this part of Switzerland , is fre . quently of stone , may have re . mained firm , and thus not a few
of tbe inhabitants escaped unhurt . Tbe consternation into which the neighbouring towns of Art and Schweitz were thrown , appears indeed to have left them incapa . ble of contriving and executing those labours , which an
enlightened compassion would dictate . • The mountain of Rossberg , as well Us the Rljgi , ahd bthe * itiountains in its vicitiity , is composed of a kind of brittle calcareous
earth , and pudding stone or aggregated rocks . Such a p roiiigbus mass as tliat tfhich iJfell would easily crumble by its own weight , and spread over a wide surface . The bed of tfefe ifiduntain , from
which the desolation came , is a plane inclined from north to south . Its appearance , as it is now laid bare , would lead ohe to suppose that the mass , when first moved fr 6 m its base , slid for some distance before it precip itated itself into the valley J The height of the Spitsberg—the name of the projection which fell—above the lake and valley of Loweftz , was ' lft » less than two thousand feet . The
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^ 34 Letter from Mr . Buckmlns te r to Arthur M . Walter , Esq .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1814, page 734, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2447/page/6/
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