158 Mr Hamilton's Observatio?is on recent Earthquakes 



The river which supplies Tacna with water was not obstructed in its 

 channel; but streams at other places had their courses changed, and one 

 was noted as altogether lost subterraneously. Towards the south, along 

 the coast, the earthquake extended many hundred miles to the desert of 

 Atacama. At Luto, forty miles from Tacna, and near the base of the 

 Andes, fissures were made in the ground, whence issued a dark- colon red 

 fluid. In the province of Tarapaca, — where nitrate of soda is now ob- 

 tained — villages were overthrown and gaps made in the ground. An In- 

 dian village, which stood in a ravine on the Andes, was buried out of 

 sight with its inhabitants, the mountains closing over it. Towards the 

 north, the nearest habitation to Tacna is the village of Samo, distant 80 

 miles, and the next is Loqumbo, 60 miles, both of which were destroyed. 

 The next town is Moquegua, 120 miles ; it has a population of 10,000, 

 who suffered severely from damage to houses ; and also great loss sus- 

 tained by the destruction of wine and brandy, both of which are pro- 

 duced there in vast quantity. 



This earthquake was felt at places farther north than Arequipa, which 

 city, distant 90 miles from the sea, was much shaken ; but little damage 

 was done. In Upper Peru, the effects of this earthquake may be seen on 

 the lofty peaks of the Andes. The church in the village of Tacora was 

 thrown down by the convulsion : it is a small Indian village, 15,000 feet 

 above the sea. The city of La Paz was shaken in a manner never before 

 experienced, and also the other places in Upper Peru before mentioned. 



After the calamity, when the atmosphere became clear, the Andes, as 

 seen from Tacna, presented a novel spectacle. Those mountains, in 

 many parts, appeared with a new surface : large portions had been 

 thrown off, or had slid down into valleys or ravines below, leaving some 

 of the more elevated peaks denuded of what had been their more promi- 

 nent limbs ; large masses of snow also were detached from the higher 

 pinnacles. As to the size of the masses of rocks or earth which were de- 

 tached from the Andes by this earthquake, I will only state, that Mr 

 Scott, engineer, had been employed during some years prior to this earth- 

 quake by a joint-stock company in Tacna, whose object was to make a 

 canal in that lofty region, and carry a river from it over the crest of the 

 Ancles, to fertilize a portion of the desert in the vicinity of Tacna. These 

 operations could be carried on during a part of the }"ear only ; for the 

 months between November and April arc so tempestuous on those moun- 

 tains as to prevent the work, but September is the best month in the year 

 for cutting the canal. In these circumstances, Mr Scott was at Ocho- 

 zumo, 14,000 feet above the sea, and saw the rare phenomena there pre- 

 sented to his view. He stated, that the motion of the ground in that ele- 

 vated region was terrific, and that the noise, which was simultaneous with 

 the convulsion, was peculiar, being as if an immense quantity of porcelain 

 had been elevated in the air, and let fall so as to break it in pieces. It 

 was also stated, that, within the range of his telescope, masses were 

 thrown off from the mountains, one of which left a space whence the rap- 



