alluvial deposits, in some cases dry; in others, swampy and concreted gravel,
hard clay, or laminated rock. The three latter descriptions of ground require but little preparation; the artificial foundations to carry the building, may be piles, brick and piles, or all brick, for, in nine cases out of ten, where the foundations are all brick, and not more than one foot high, they are uninjured; even in a great many cases, where the brick walls are two feet high and the natural foundation good, they are uninjured; for instance, the New Church in Willis Street, and the Mechanics’ Institution.

In foundations all brick, the ground plate should always be kept half an inch above the brickwork, and a strip of lead, iron, or slate, inserted between the two at intervals of four feet; and the bottom weather board ought always to have its under edge one inch lower than the under side of the ground plate, in order to keep all dry.

In bad or indifferent natural foundations, if consisting of loose gravel, the trenches, after having been dug out to a depth of three feet by a width of two feet six inches, should be filled in to a depth of one foot with concrete formed of the shingle thrown out, and Roman cement, or stone lime and then built up to the required height in brickwork. If the ground is new made or swampy, a sill of the heart of Totara 24 in. x 7 in. may be laid level at the bottom of the trench, which has previously been prepared by ramming; a brick wall may then be built on it, or piles tenoned into it, the tenon being dovetailed and wedged (after being inserted in the sill) the spaces between the piles can then be filled in with brickwork.

Piles, of themselves, fixed in the ordinary way, in ground of a loose or yielding nature, are useless for heavy buildings, intended for warehouses; they do not afford bearing surface enough, and when charged with heavy weights, are liable to sink, oscillate, and, if Totara, to split. They will do, if driven with a piling engine, or placed close together; for ordinary dwellings or light buildings, they answer very well. For some years to come, timber will be the principal material used in building; but the time will arrive when the Colony is richer, when more experience is gained, and when labour and talent are more abundant, when substantial and durable erections of stone and brick will be both numerous and safe, as they are found to be in countries

subject to much more violent earthquakes than this. Rome, remarkable for the grandeur and number of stone buildings, has been subject to very violent earthquakes, and their buildings were very high; the Coliseum was 167 feet high by 627 feet in diameter, and held 87,000 spectators. In 439, A.D., a tremendous earthquake damaged this massive stone edifice, and another earthquake in 496 A.D. again damaged it, and shook down the Podium; other earthquakes occurred of a subsequent date, yet this immense building, though about 1,900 years old, has survived earthquakes, fire, and Barbarian spoliation, and at this day, one side of it retains its original height and the grandeur of its ancient proportions.

It is quite easy even at this time to demonstrate that the more massive brick or stone works are, the better they will stand, provided the material and foundations are good. It is obvious that if we can build a block of brickwork in cement, so as to make it a solid body, adhering together in all its parts like stone or wood, and give it the form of a pyramid, it will neither fall to pieces nor turn over. Free stone is only composed of silica and other particles cemented together with a calcareous earth. The pyramidal form is an important one in nature; the high conical hills which surround us partake of it, yet they never overturn—there they stand for ages. We see many pinnacle rocks with their bases sunk in the earth, and their tapering forms rising high in the air; also poles placed in the ground by man, and the beacon at the heads, though half rotten, and 40 feet high, yet these remain as they were before the earthquake, incontestibly proving that solidity, cohesion, and the pyramidal form offer most resistance, and are the three conditions which, when combined, are most capable of withstanding the shock of an earthquake.

During the continuance of the late earthquake, the earth was upheaved; a wave-like motion was imparted to it; all bodies on its surface partook of that motion; they oscillated from side to side; all vertical bodies became inclined—at what angle it would be difficult to state, had not a trivial occurrence been noticed, which enables us to form a tolerably accurate idea of the angle to which buildings, &c., were lifted.

In one house, a chest of drawers, standing with its front or narrow part in the direction of the shake, was upset,