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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



a week before the disturbance took place. But, 

 although the coincidence may possibly have been 

 accidental, yet, in endeavoring to ascertain the 

 true seat of disturbance, we must overlook no 

 evidence, however seemingly remote, which may 

 throw light on that point ; and as the sea-wave 

 generated by the disturbance reached very quick- 

 ly the distant region referred to, it is by no means 

 unlikely that the subterranean excitement which 

 the disturbance relieved may have manifested its 

 effects beforehand at the same remote volcanic 

 region. Be this as it may, it is certain that on 

 May 1st the great crater of Kilauea, in the island 

 of Hawaii, became active, and on the 4th severe 

 shocks of earthquake were felt at the Volcano 

 House. At three in the afternoon a jet of lava 

 was thrown up to a height of about 100 feet, 

 and afterward some fifty jets came into action. 

 Subsequently jets of steam issued along the line 

 formed by a fissure four miles in length down 

 the mountain-side. The disturbance lessened 

 considerably on the 5th, and an observing-party 

 examined the crater. They found that a rounded 

 hill, 700 feet in height, and 1,400 feet in diameter, 

 had been thrown up on the plain which forms 

 the floor of the crater. Fire and scoria were 

 spouted up in various places. 



Before rejecting utterly the belief that the ac- 

 tivity thus exhibited in the Hawaii volcano had 

 its origin in the same subterrene or submarine 

 region as the Peruvian earthquake, we should re- 

 member that other regions scarcely less remote 

 have been regarded as forming part of this great 

 Vuleanian district. The violent earthquakes which 

 occurred at New Madrid, in Missouri, in 1812, 

 took place at the same time as the earthquake of 

 Caraccas, the West Indian volcanoes being si- 

 multaneously active ; and earthquakes had been 

 felt in South Carolina for several months before 

 the destruction of Caraccas and La Guayra. Now 

 we have abundant evidence to show that the 

 West Indian volcanoes are connected with the 

 Peruvian and Chilian regions of Vuleanian ener- 

 gy, and the Chilian region is about as far from 

 New Madrid as Arica in Peru from the Sand- 

 wich Isle. 



It was not, however, until about half-past 

 eight on the evening of May 9th that the Peru- 

 vian earthquake began. A severe shock, lasting 

 from four to five minutes, was felt along the en- 

 tire southern coast, even reaching Autofagasta. 

 The shock was so severe that it was impossible, 

 in many places, to stand upright. It was suc- 

 ceeded by several others of less intensity. 



While the land was thus disturbed, the sea 



was observed to be gradually receding, a move- 

 ment which former experiences have taught 

 the Peruvians to regard with even more terror 

 than the disturbance of the earth itself. The 

 waters which had thus withdrawn, as if concen- 

 trating their energies to leap more fiercely on 

 their prey, presently returned in a mighty wave, 

 which swept past Callao, traveling southward 

 with fearful velocity, while in its train followed 

 wave after wave, until no less than eight had 

 taken their part in the work of destruction. At 

 Mollendo the railway was torn up by the sea for 

 a distance of 300 feet. A violent hurricane 

 which set in afterward from the south pre- 

 vented all vessels from approaching, and un- 

 roofed most of the houses in the town. At Ari- 

 ca the people were busily engaged in prepar- 

 ing temporary fortifications to repel a threat- 

 ened assault of the rebel ram Huiscar, at the 

 moment when the roar of the earthquake was 

 heard. The shocks here were very numerous, 

 and caused immense damage in the town, the 

 people flying to the Morro for safety. The sea 

 was suddenly perceived to recede from the beach, 

 and a wave from ten feet to fifteen feet in height 

 rolled in upon the shore, carrying before it all 

 that it met. Eight times was this assault of the 

 ocean repeated. The earthquake had leveled to 

 the ground a portion of the custom-house, the 

 railway-station, the submarine-cable office, the 

 hotel, the British consulate, the steamship-agen- 

 cy, and many private dwellings. Owing to the 

 early hour of the evening, and the excitement 

 attendant on the proposed attack of the Huiscar, 

 every one was out and stirring ; but the only loss 

 of life which was reported is that of three little 

 children who were overtaken by the water. The 

 progress of the wave was only stopped at the foot 

 of the hill on which the church stands, which 

 point is farther inland than that reached in Au- 

 gust, 1868. Four miles of the embankment of 

 the railway were swept away like sand before the 

 wind. Locomotives, cars, and rails, were hurled 

 about by the sea like so many playthings, and left 

 in a tumbled mass of rubbish. 



The account proceeds to say that the United 

 States steamer Waters, stranded by the bore of 

 1868, was lifted up bodily by the wave at Arica, 

 and floated two miles north of her former posi- 

 tion. The reference is, no doubt, to the double- 

 ender Wateree, not stranded by a bore (a term 

 utterly inapplicable to any kind of sea-wave at 

 Arica, where there is no large river), but carried 

 in by the great wave which followed the earth- 

 quake of August 13th. The description of the 



