providing
food for the hungry.

The royal family and the members of the court exerted themselves to the
uttermost, the ladies devoting themselves to the preparation of lint and
bandages, and to nursing the wounded, the sick, and the dying, of whom
the numbers were overwhelming. Among the sufferers were men of quality
and once opulent citizens, who had been reduced in a moment to absolute
penury. The kitchens of the royal palace, which fortunately remained
standing, were used for the purpose of preparing food for the starving
multitudes. It is said that during the first two or three days a pound
of bread was worth an ounce of gold. One of the first measures of the
government was to buy up all the corn that could be obtained in the
neighborhood of Lisbon, and to sell it again at a moderate price, to
those who could afford to buy, distributing it gratis to those who had
nothing to pay.

For about a month afterward earthquake shocks continued, some of them
severe. It was several months before any of the citizens could summon
courage to begin rebuilding the city. But by degrees their confidence
returned. The earth had relapsed into repose, and they set about the
task of rebuilding with so much energy, that in ten years Lisbon again
became one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE

The most distinguishing peculiarities of this earthquake were the
swallowing up of the mole, and the vast extent of the earth's surface
over which the shocks were felt. Several of the highest mountains in
Portugal were violently shaken, and rent at their summits; huge masses
falling from them into the neighboring valleys. These great fractures
gave rise to immense volumes of dust, which at a distance were mistaken
for smoke by those who beheld them. Flames were also said to have been
observed: but if there were any such, they were probably electrical
flashes produced by the sudden rupture of the rocks.

The portion of the earth's surface convulsed by this earthquake is
estimated by Humboldt to have been four times greater than the whole
extent of Europe. The shocks were felt not only over the Spanish
peninsula, but in Morocco and Algeria they were nearly as violent. At a
place about twenty-four miles from the city of Morocco, there is said
to have occurred a catastrophe much resembling what took place at the
Lisbon mole. A great fissure opened in the earth, and an entire village,
with all its