506 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



Marta, the protectress against earthquakes in that city, and carried 

 her statue in procession to the parish church, which is now the 

 Cathedral of that diocese. On Saturday at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 as has been said, all the region of the upper air or the heavens was 

 obscured by a very black cloud and it began raining very fine sand 

 in enormous quantity, a thing which terrified people, who had never 

 seen or imagined such an unprecedented phenomenon. That white 

 sand rained down till midnight, with some dark gray; it stopped for 

 a while, but only briefly, and then started in again raining down 

 harder, until Sunday morning ; by then the ground was covered 

 with -} vara (8 inches) of sand and ashes. That same night there 

 were great thunderclaps and thunderbolts, continuous one after the 

 other ; the thunder was hoarse, such as never had been heard before. 

 All night long there were loud cries and lamentations from the Indians, 

 Spaniards, women, and children, begging God for mercy. While 

 the tempest was raging, a hermit who was out doing penance in the 

 desert, came back to seek refuge in the city ; and in this terrible 

 tribulation, he strode naked, with a holy Christ in one hand and 

 a stone in the other, striking himself hard with it ; he visited all the 

 churches and begged God for mercy, that He would take pity on that 

 city ; he was followed by a great crowd, which overflowed the churches 

 and followed his every movement ; but the darkness was such that 

 they could not see each other, though they carried lighted lanterns. 



1399. On that Sunday at half past one in the afternoon it grew 

 so dark, up to 3 :3o, that it was impossible to see sky or land or one 

 another. At that moment the Jesuit Rector preached a sermon, 

 urging them to contrition and sorrow at seeing God offended, and 

 that those were sure indications of the Judgment. At this sermon 

 and before the present spectacle, all the people broke out into great 

 lamentations and mourning, begging God for mercy and for remission 

 of their sins, whereupon he brought out a very holy Christ and 

 encouraged the afflicted, telling them that the humble and contrite 

 in heart might hope for His divine mercy. 



1400. It grew brighter at 3:30 in the afternoon, and then they 

 exposed the Holy Sacrament and took it to the plaza in a procession ; 

 the whole city escorted His Divine Majesty in procession, and many 

 priests deHvered fervent prayers on that occasion. On the Monday 

 succeeding, it came off bright, though the ashes kept falling. On 

 this day Father Fray Domingo Perez, the Dominican Prior, preached 

 on the steps of the parish church to the whole city ; some were on 

 their knees, others confessing their sins and others lamenting them, 

 all of them covered with the falling ashes ; they were so panic- 



