EARTH' >l "A KM. Id.', 



\\cll as tin- i.ccupants ni'tli.' irniiiml tl....r, t. tin- patio and street the female portion in drc 

 which illicit In- priinissil.lc at a "//"/ nwtume," though they certainly w a la mode" 



in tin- hi-liua\- "f a capi.al. No one observed the direction of the undulation at Santiago: 

 tln-rr was much noise, and my iron bedstead struck quite violently against the wall* during 

 more than a minute. It was not noticed to the southward, nor was any earthquake mentioned 

 between tin- 1st September and close of December. 



In a little while: our perceptions were quickened, and we were able to detect the customary 

 premonitory iniise as well as the oldest native ; yet we needed something more reliable than 

 corporeal pulsations something that would watch whilst we slept, lor none can say when the 

 earth will be rended. Finding that the instrument brought for the purpose could not be made 

 sufficiently sensitive to record the many slight shocks frequently occurring, another was made 

 by suspending with a fine silver wire a ball of lead weighing about two pounds. From the point 

 of suspension to a plate of glass resting on a board placed horizontally on the earth, and touched 

 by a needle inserted in the ball, was 9 feet 10 inches. Under the glass was placed a paper, 

 engraved with the points of the compass and concentric circles, the latter having radii increasing 

 a quarter of an inch from the centre outward. This was adjusted so that the points of the paper 

 coincided with the corresponding points of the horizon, and the centre fell precisely under the point 

 of the needle. Black sand was then sifted over the glass uniformly, and the instrument was 

 ready ; any motion of the earth must leave a trace in the sand easy to be transferred by means 

 of the engraved paper. Perfectly glazed paper firmly secured to a smooth surface would have 

 obviated the necessity for interposing a plate of glass, and a longer pendulum would have been 

 better ; but we had no apartment where such an instrument could be put up, and the satisfactory 

 action of even this was much interfered with by mice and insects. Besides the arrangement for 

 self-register of the line of oscillation and comparative disturbance, each member of the party 

 noted the time of the subterranean noise, with the beginning and end of the tremor, and esti- 

 mated the direction from which they came ; and one went to the barometer, as well to preserve 

 it from injury as to ascertain the fluctuation of the mercurial column. 



Before these arrangements were completed, a favorable opportunity was afforded, on the after- 

 noon of the 22d December, 1849, to observe one from the summit of Santa Lucia. The approach of 

 the earth-wave could be unmistakably calculated by the increasing violence of the rumbling noise, 

 and no doubt was left that the line of motion was from W.S.W. Several seconds had elapsed, 

 when there was a quick, slight tremor. An interval of repose succeeded, which was followed 

 by a more violent arid longer shock, the duration of the two being precisely six seconds. It 

 was felt at Valparaiso, but not at Coquimbo or Talca. 



DECEMBER 6, 1850. 



I was sleeping profoundly, and disturbed. With the first glimmerings of consciousness 

 there was associated an impression of heavily laden carts passing over fhe newly made pave- 

 ment in front of the house, separated from the chamber only four or five feet ; but even in the 

 brief second or two that lingered whilst reason was resuming its sway, the deep, rumbling 

 noise was combined with a short, quick rocking of the bed, a vibratory trembling of the walls, and 

 such a creaking of the ceiling, as left no doubt respecting the disturbant of my morning slum- 

 bers. Seizing the watch overhead, and springing to the floor, the earth was felt in excessive 

 agitation ; its quick throbbings starting every object in contact with it, and by degrees commu- 

 nicating an oscillating motion to walls and roofs. The water of the ewer on the wash-stand was 

 tossed into a pyramidal form three or four inches high, and dashed out on either side in such 

 quantity that its surface was finally more than an inch below the rim. The doors of the chamber, 

 though bolted above and locked, had been thrown wide open. Articles suspended against the 

 walls were beating them with rap id blows: windows rattled, as we sometimes hear in a railway- 

 train : tiles on the opposite houses were in motion like the short, quick billows of a rapid 

 current across which a breeze blows freshly ; and the street was filled with a terror-stricken 

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