Ch. vil south AMERICA. 



CHAP. VII. 



Inconveniences, Distempers, and Evils, to which the 

 Cily of Lima is subject ; particularly Earthquakes. 



/^NE of the inconveniences of Lima, during the 

 ^^ summer, is that of being* tormented with fleas 

 and bugs, from which the- utmost care is not sufiicient 

 to free the inhabitants. Their prodigious increase is 

 partly owing to the dust of that dung, with which the 

 streets are continually covered ; and partly to the 

 flatness of the roofs^ where the same dust, wafted thi- 

 ther by the winds, produce these troublesome insects, 

 which are continually dropping through the crevices 

 of the boards into the apariments, and by that means 

 render it impossible for the inha])iíanís, notwithstand- 

 ing all their pains, to keep their houses free from 

 them. The moschitos are very troublesome, but much 

 less so than the former. 



The next, and indeed a níost dreadful circum- 

 stance, is that of earthquake?., to which this coun- 

 try is so subject, that the inhabitants are under con- 

 tinual apprehensions of being, from their suddenness 

 and violence, buried in the ruins of their own 

 houses. Several deplorable instances of this kind 

 have happened in this unfortunate city ; and lately 

 proved tlie total destruction of all its buildings. These 

 terrible concussions of nature are not regular, either 

 with regard to their continuance or violence. But 

 the interval between them is never of a length suf- 

 ficient to obliterate the remembrance of them. lu 

 the year 1742 I had the curiosity to observe the di- 

 stance of time between those which happened suc- 

 cessively for a certain space. 1 . On the yth of iMay 

 at three quarters after nine in the morning. 2. The 

 19th of the same month at midnight. 3. The 27th 



