106 EARTHQUAKES. 



populace. To sally out in such a dress as did my neighbors, would have been more shocking 

 still ; and as it was next to impossible that the phenomenon would not have ceased long 

 before the very first garment could have been adjusted even were there not aversion to perform 

 any act hurriedly during the forty mortal seconds that elapsed, I watched round me with all 

 the reflection at command. Thus I stood in the middle of the floor, trying to feel if there 

 was any undulation, and in what direction it was progressing, not knowing how soon the 

 earth might open and suddenly admit me to a sight of her great laboratory; and striving to 

 estimate the number of inches through which the walls were swaying, uncertain how early 

 they would spread a little wider than usual, and permit the ceiling to catch me like a rat 

 under a dead-fall. 



Whilst dreamy scenes of other lands cling about the brain, thus suddenly to find our emblem 

 of stability trembling and throbbing under foot quivering in its convulsions, and with 

 deep-toned mutterings filling the air and stunning the ear is no less astounding than ter- 

 rific. When so roused, one cannot readily appreciate the passing event ; the mental and 

 physical faculties are not synchronous in action, and judgment remains partially dormant 

 long after the mechanism of the body has been called into play. One may be self-possessed to 

 a degree, absolutely regardless of personal danger, resolved to study the grand terrestrial 

 phenomenon with the keenest appreciation intelligence will permit ; but, until reason resumes 

 her throne, instinct prompts, and the body ordinarily accomplishes flight to places of compara- 

 tive safety, at least to spots where walls and roofs cannot add to the dangers. We had not 

 experienced any earthquake that continued more than a few seconds : the present one lasted 

 thirty -five after my foot touched the floor, and fifty-five from, the commencement, as was 

 observed by one of the assistants. 



Up to 2 A. M. the atmosphere had been clear, and the pressure of the barometer about its 

 mean. At 6 o'clock the sky was partially overcast with light, fleecy clouds, and the air calm, 

 indeed somewhat stagnant. The preliminary rumble was heard by Lieut. MacRae about 

 forty minutes afterwards ; and, as customary, he went to a chronometer always in his room. 

 This was instantly followed by a slight shock, of scarcely three seconds' duration. In less 

 than five seconds more, and while the rumble of the first was still audible, the second shock 

 commenced, continued increasing in violence for more than half a minute, and then slowly sub- 

 sided. Those who were in the open air by the end of the first shock, say that the line along 

 which it travelled was from N.W. to S.E., as was also shown by the major axis of the ellipse 

 described by our pendulum. To all, the motion was evidently vertical, rather a succession 

 of rapid pulsations of almost sufficient power to lift one off his feet, than undulatory to any 

 extent. Oscillation by such a power as was seemingly in action beneath us, would have 

 levelled Santiago with the plain.* 



Walls standing east and west opened at their junctions with the ceilings, so as to permit 

 the falling of things from above ; those occupying north and south directions were cracked 

 nearly from the ground-line upward. Many of the former, of two stories height, and sur- 

 mounted by balustrades with heavy ornaments of masonry as the old palace, and mint threw 

 the ornaments to the north and south, whilst others of a like elevation and structure in the 

 latter direction, retained them in place. Portions of masonry fell within the "cathedral and 

 other churches, starting early worshippers priests and all from mass ; tiles rattled from 

 the house-roofs in all the streets; and nearly every dwelling with a ceiling of plaster had 

 it shaken down. All the town-clocks, and most of those in private houses, were stopped; 

 that of the observatory, whose heavy mercurial pendulum swung 'N.W. and S.E., had its 

 error changed two seconds, showing acceleration of its vibrations during the disturbance. 



Where so much was falling, and instinct drives every one, for self-preservation, without the 

 reach of walls even before they are fully threatened by danger, one would anticipate casualties 



* Mr. Phelps likens the motion to that of a railroad car off the track, bumping over the sleepers. 



