302 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
of freebooters for the possession of the treasury. The latter were finally beaten off, and the State coffers and archives saved. The relics and the remains of the Cathedral treasure were removed to a chapel in the Dominican monastery, which was bricked up, only a barred window being left open so that the people might assure themselves of their existence and worship them.1 The State treasure was removed to the Leverone fort, where the surviving nobles gathered together and constituted a provisional Government of twelve Senators. The situation appeared hopeless. “ The city,” wrote the Abate Bosdari, “ was so completely buried in the stones and rubbish of the ruined houses that every one gave up all idea of ever making it habitable again. The stench from the burnt or decaying corpses was so overpowering that it caused many people to suffer from nausea; and no one dared venture to the spot where he had lost his property, his relatives, and almost his own life, especially as other slight earthquake shocks were felt from time to time. Wherefore many of the most influential personages declared it to be necessary to change the site of the town, and they proposed that of Lapad as being the most convenient. This opinion was supported by the attractiveness of the position, its proximity to a harbour capable of sheltering many fleets, and the pure and more open air, and it would obviate the necessity of spending large sums in removing the rubbish.”2
Ragusa was not alone in her calamity; many places in the immediate neighbourhood had suffered considerably.
1	Rog., 1667, June 23, and Div. 1711, f. 58, dd. Feb. 3.
2	Quoted by Gelcich, 98.