on the West Coast of South America. 157 



people, and the howling of animals, made a confusion of sounds inde- 

 scribable. The convulsive heaving? of the ground seemed to have at- 

 tained their utmost force, wlien suddenly, as if the earth had been strug- 

 gling to get rid of some mighty load, a more severe shock was felt, which 

 Mas complicated in its movement, being upward and lateral. It finished 

 the work of ruin in the town by throwing down the cathedral on the con- 

 gregation, who were in it as usual at that early hour. 



This terrible earthquake lasted about one minute, after which a tremu- 

 lous motion of the ground was felt, and numerous gentle shocks, which 

 continued many days. 



The town presented a dismal spectacle : whole ranges of houses were 

 in ruins, and many others were hanging over from the perpendicular, and 

 twisted in a singular manner ; these were speedily pulled down by a regi- 

 ment of dragoons then at Tacna. Many scenes of misery were seen on 

 that eventful morning : some houses were in ruins, burying their inmates, 

 where, only a few hours before, joyous circles of happy beings were mov- 

 ing in the giddy throng, to the animating sounds of the guitar. All the 

 congregation in the church perished: not one escaped, but none of the 

 officiating priests were injured ; — the worshippers, who were all females, 

 were killed by the roof and walls falling on them while they were attempt- 

 ing to run from the church ; but the priests stood still under an arch, and 

 were saved. I now advert to some of the other effects of this earthquake. 

 Rain began to fall at Tacna at the moment of convulsion. We had what 

 may be called a wet season ; for, during a period of six weeks after the 

 great shock, more or less rain fell almost every day. In the first week of 

 October I was at Arica, and experienced a deluge of rain such as had not 

 been seen there before by persons who had lived there more than half a 

 century. An hour after the earthquake, a well regulated thermometer in 

 my house (which was not totally thrown down) shewed the temperature 

 as low as I ever saw it at Tacna, — it was 58° Fahr. Four hours after 

 the great shock, at 10 a.m., a very strong gust of wind and a whirlwind 

 were seen carrying pillars of sand across the desert between Tacna and 

 the sea, the movement being towards the ocean. 



The earthquake affected different parts of Tacna with various degrees 

 of destructive force. It has been noticed that the town is divided into a 

 number of sections : in some of these almost every house was demolished, 

 while in other portions much less damage was done. The lower divi- 

 sion-- near the church were all but totally destroyed, but some of those 

 situated higher sustained far less injury. 



The pillage of Casa Blanea, between Tacna and the Andes, was over- 

 thrown in an extraordinary manner: the adovies, with which the houses 

 there had been built, were scattered by the oscillatory movements of the 

 earth, as if they had been laid down in detail by human agency. 



A new unfinished wall, near the cathedra], was not overturned, but 

 it was split longitudinally «-md perpendicularly, presenting a fissure an 

 inch wide. 



