58 aie Proceedings of the British Association. 
ment of the ground. On the morning of the 18th there wasa 
much more violent movement, the earth heaving at once up and 
down, and also laterally, accompanied by a frightful subterranean 
noise. ‘The falling of houses all around, the cries of the peo- 
ple, the howlings of animals, produced a scene that cannot be 
described. The agitation seemed to have reached the utmost 
possible height, when suddenly the earth, as if striving to get rid 
of some mighty load, made a movement more terrible than ever, 
in every direction, and in one minute the work of destruction was 
completed. The cathedral in falling, destroyed a numerous con- 
gregation of females who had assembled there, and were endeav- 
oring to escape ; but the priests, who remained under an arch, 
were saved. It is remarkable that while some quarters had nearly 
every house demolished, others were comparatively uninjured. 
Rain, (here a rare phenomenon,) fell almost every day during six 
weeks; and at Arica, on the first week of October, there came 
down adeluge, such as had not been witnessed for half acentury. 
The river which supplies Tacna with water, remained undisturbed, 
but others were changed in their courses, and one altogether dis- 
appeared. The earthquake was felt many hundred miles to the 
south, as far as the desert of Atacama. At Suto, about 40 miles 
distant, fissures were made in the ground, whence issued a dark 
colored fluid. In the province of Tarapaca, villages were over= 
thrown ; and one, which stood ina ravine, was buried wi 
its inhabitants. To the north its ravages were equally extensive. _ 
The villages of Samo, distant 30 miles, and of Coquimbo, dis- 
tant 60, were both destroyed. Moquehua, 120 miles off, suffered 
severe damage ; and Arequipa was violently shaken, but with 
little injury. The effects extended even to the lofty peaks of 
Upper Peru. Tiacora, 15,000 feet above the sea, had its church 
thrown down. When the atmosphere cleared after the calamity, 
that mighty range, as seen from ‘Tacna, presented in many parts, 
anew outline. Large masses had been detached or slid down 
into the valleys or ravines, leaving many elevated peaks denuded 
of their most prominent features. Mr. Scott, engineer, then em- 
ployed at Achozumio, about 14,500 feet high, describes the shocks 
there as terrific, and the noise as if an immense mass of porce- 
lain had, after being raised in the air, been then let fall, and dashed 
to pieces. By his telescope, he saw the masses falling from the 
mountains, one of them leaving a Space as large as St. Enoch’s 
