in the place in question wherever it might be.].  And not content with this the tempest sent a sudden flood of water to submerge all the low part of this city [12]; added to which there came a sudden rain, or rather a ruinous torrent and flood of water, sand, mud, and stones, entangled with roots, and stems and fragments of various trees; and every kind of thing flying through the air fell upon us; finally a great fire broke out, not brought by the wind, but carried as it would seem, by ten thousand devils, which completely burnt up all this neighbourhood and it has not yet ceased.  And those few who remain unhurt are in such dejection and such terror that they hardly have courage to speak to each other, as if they were stunned.  Having abandoned all our business, we stay here together in the ruins of some churches, men and women mingled together, small and great [Footnote 17:  Certe ruine di chiese.  Either of Armenian churches or of Mosques, which it was not unusual to speak of as churches.

Maschi e femmini insieme unite, implies an infringement of the usually strict rule of the separation of the sexes.], just like herds of goats.  The neighbours out of pity succoured us with victuals, and they had previously been our enemies.  And if

[Footnote 18:  I vicini, nostri nimici.  The town must then have stood quite close to the frontier of the country.  Compare 1336.  L. 7. vicini ai nostri confini.  Dr. M. JORDAN has already published lines 4-13 (see Das Malerbuch, Leipzig, 1873, p. 90:—­his reading differs from mine) under the title of “Description of a landscape near Lake Como”.  We do in fact find, among other loose sheets in the Codex Atlanticus, certain texts referring to valleys of the Alps (see Nos. 1030, 1031 and note p. 237) and in the arrangement of the loose sheets, of which the Codex Atlanticus has been formed, these happen to be placed close to this text.  The compiler stuck both on the same folio sheet; and if this is not the reason for Dr. JORDAN’S choosing such a title (Description &c.) I cannot imagine what it can have been.  It is, at any rate, a merely hypothetical statement.  The designation of the population of the country round a city as “the enemy” (nemici) is hardly appropriate to Italy in the time of Leonardo.]

it had not been for certain people who succoured us with victuals, all would have died of hunger.  Now you see the state we are in.  And all these evils are as nothing compared with those which are promised to us shortly.

I know that as a friend you will grieve for my misfortunes, as I, in former letters have shown my joy at your prosperity ...

Notes about events observed abroad (1338-1339).

1338.

BOOK 43.  OF THE MOVEMENT OF AIR ENCLOSED IN WATER.

I have seen motions of the air so furious that they have carried, mixed up in their course, the largest trees of the forest and whole roofs of great palaces, and I have seen the same fury bore a hole with a whirling movement digging out a gravel pit, and carrying gravel, sand and water more than half a mile through the air.