510 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



the stuff with which the fires of the volcanoes are kindled and fed. 

 Thus greater cavities and empty spaces are created down there ; 

 and as these vapors find no easy outlet, and that is not their center, 

 they are restless and violent, and this restlessness and violence at 

 times cause them to burst forth at the weakest point. Thus on account 

 of this violence and restlessness, when there is an earthquake it is 

 instantaneously perceived and felt by a roaring sound underground, 

 which is the result of the agitation of these vapors. This can be 

 clearly appreciated from the analogy of powder set underground in 

 a mine ; when it is set ofif, it bursts forth and carries along with it 

 whatever it meets ; or by the analogy of an acorn or chestnut placed 

 whole in the fire ; the air between the kernel and the husk becomes 

 heated, and seeing and feeling that it is agitated by the fire, it 

 violently bursts the husk, and makes the familiar noise. In like 

 manner the vapors produced in the bowels and cavities of the earth, 

 burst forth from it in order to get out, and keep searching for the 

 weakest point or breathing hole for exit, until they find it. Thus it 

 was observed in the year 1586 on July 9 that an earthquake ran 

 along the coast for 160 leagues, and over 40 inland ; that was the 

 great quake they had in Lima, although it did little damage since 

 it came in the daytime. Then there was that of the year 1619, on 

 the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, at 10 :30 a.m. ; that destroyed the 

 city of Trujillo at that hour and traveled so easily and violently 

 that it reached Lima before 11, a distance of nearly 100 leagues 

 from Trujillo. At that day and hour I was in the silversmith district 

 of Lima and felt it, and everybody rushed in flight from their houses 

 into the street ; within 4 days we learned of the great damage it 

 had caused, and the plea for aid from the Viceroy, since the shock 

 had so completely ruined it. 



1406. Furthermore, if another cause of earthquakes is sought, it 

 is to be found in the volcanoes, of which there are many in the Indies, 

 and more particularly in those regions ; for in the Kingdom of Peru 

 near Quito rise Tunguragua, Pichincha and others ; there is that 

 of Arequipa ; and many others of less importance scattered through 

 the country and on the heights near Arica, Sacama [and others], 

 and those in the Kingdom of Chile in the center of the Cordillera 

 Nevada and [the many to be found] in Guatemala, Honduras, and 

 Nicaragua, as already described. 



1407. These regions and provinces where they have these volcanoes 

 are the ones most afflicted and damaged by earthquakes. Besides 

 those mentioned, there was one in the Kingdom of Chile so violent 

 that it blocked the large deep Rio de Valdivia, which can receive 



