Ch. VII. SOUTH AMERICA. 81 



t'leir houses througb fear of a repetition, wliicli fre- 

 quently demolishes those building's which had been 

 "weakened bv the first. 



My attention to set down the exact time of the 

 above-mentioned shocks, taught me, that they hap- 

 jc!) indifterently at half-ebb or half-flood, but never 

 at high or low water ; which sufficiently confutes what 

 some have confidenth advanced, namely, that earth- 

 quakes always happen during the six hours of ebb, 

 but never during the flood: because this favours the 

 hypothesis they have advanced to account for their 

 origin and causes: an hypothesis which, in my opi- 

 nion, does not sufficieritiy correspond with oljserva- 

 tions, as to recommend itself to the assent of in- 

 telligent persons. 



The nature of this country is so adapted to earth- 

 quakes, that ail ages have seen their terrible devasta- 

 tions ; and that nothing may be wanting to satisfy this 

 curiosity of the reader, I shall introduce the account 

 of that which laid this large and splendid city totally 

 in ruins, with a short narrative of the most remarkable 

 that have been felt in latter ages. 



1. The first concussion since the establishment of 

 the Spaniards in these parts, happened in 158^, 

 a few years after the foundTition of Lima ; but the 

 damage was much less than in some of the suc- 

 ceeding, being chiefly confined to the city of Are- 

 quipa, which being situated near that spot, where 

 the motion of the earth was most violent, the greate-st 

 part of it was destroyed, 



9. On the 9th of July 1580, Lima was visited 

 with another earthquake, and so violent, that even 

 to this time it is solemnly commemorated on the day 

 of the visitation of Elizabeth. 



3. In 1609, another like the former happened. 



4. On the 27th of November 1630, such prodi- 

 gious damage was done in the city by an earth- 

 quake, and the entire ruin of it apprehended, that 



Vol. II. G in 



