Their
sufferings were greatly increased by the filth, extreme cold, and
their uncomfortable positions; their clothes had rotted. When
they were taken out their eyes were unable to endure the light
and their stomachs at first rejected all food.
While returning from Cambridge, February 2, 1799, Elizabeth
Woodcock dismounted from her horse, which ran away, leaving her
in a violent snowstorm. She was soon overwhelmed by an enormous
drift six feet high. The sensation of hunger ceased after the
first day and that of thirst predominated, which she quenched by
sucking snow. She was discovered on the 10th of February, and
although suffering from extensive gangrene of the toes, she
recovered. Hamilton says that at a barracks near Oppido,
celebrated for its earthquakes, there were rescued two girls, one
sixteen and the other eleven; the former had remained under the
ruins without food for eleven days. This poor creature had
counted the days by a light coming through a small opening. The
other girl remained six days under the ruin in a confined and
distressing posture, her hands pressing her cheek until they had
almost made a hole in it. Two persons were buried under
earthquake ruins at Messina for twenty-three and twenty-two days
each.
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