112 EARTHQUAKES. 



and west line, entirely across the court-yard ; and the water of its well was rendered turbid for 

 several hours. The same thing occurred with a number of the wells at Valparaiso. At Casa- 

 blanca still farther west the destruction was even greater, no walls having escaped unbroken, 

 no matter what their direction ; indeed it was said, that the only safe house remaining was the 

 inn. This was, undoubtedly, exaggeration, fright in the first hours having driven many to 

 arbors and tents, which they were willing enough to abandon after a day or two. There were 

 accounts, too, that the earth had opened in a great many places near the line of the road, par- 

 ticularly some three or four leagues west of Santiago, and also that water had been seen to 

 issue from the crevices in considerable quantities ; but subsequent investigation brought 

 to light only one person, to the westward, who had actually seen water ejected, and this was 

 near Vina la Mar, close to the sea-shore. It was also well attested, that the high bank of the 

 Angostura (a little stream emptying into the Maypu) had opened, and a black and slimy sub- 

 stance oozed out. Unfortunately, when searched for some five days afterwards, a heavy rain 

 had intervened and obliterated all traces. 



As no intelligence from Valparaiso reached us before the arrival of the mail, next morning, 

 the omen was regarded as most favorable. Yet it did not prevent the assembling of an immense 

 crowd about the post-office at the hour when the letters were expected, and anxious impatience 

 could only be gratified by one of the clerks reading aloud from the first paper obtained. This 

 stated, that all the walls of houses in the Almendral had been shaken to their bases ; many 

 roofs wholly destroyed ; the tiles of others flung into the streets ; full five hundred houses were 

 uninhabitable, and more than that number of people without any shelter whatever; and in short the 

 residents remembered no such earthquake since 1822. Even those whose houses had not been 

 seriously injured in many cases took refuge on board ships ; others fled to the hills, and others 

 again erected tents and wooden shanties in the plazas. The hotels, principally occupied by stran- 

 gers, were deserted at once, the occupants taking to the water forthwith. It was especially 

 remarkable, that the houses built on the sandy foundation of the Almendral were far more 

 injured than those on the narrow rocky ledge of the port. Though the injuries had been 

 greatest to those whose walls stood in a N.E. and S.W. line, no direction had proved a safe- 

 guard ; and, as at Casablanca, every one in the Almendral had been broken. 



Judging by a line in which a cross was thrown from the steeple of La Matriz chur'ch, and 

 the place at which part of a marble fountain in the Plaza Victoria was left, the direction of the 

 earth-wave must have been from N.E. by N. to S.W. by S v the cross having been thrown nearly 

 20 feet from the body of the edifice in the former direction, and the vase of the fountain jolted on its 

 pedestal two inches towards the latter point.* No lives were lost, nor were any serious wounds 

 received, the hour of the day and long interval of warning having given people a chance to 

 escape to the streets and patios. The family of one friend in the Almendral had been in ago- 

 nizing tribulation. At the first tremor, the door of their chamber was permanently secured 

 by the sinking of the ceiling ; and they found themselves wholly unable to escape to the rescue 

 of their children, occupying an apartment on the opposite side of the patio. Cries from the 

 nurse told them that the door of her room was similarly beyond her power to force ; and the thought 

 passed through their minds that they would be buried without again embracing their darlings. 

 But a moment after, the iron railings barring all windows fell with a crash from the nursery, 

 and the mother had the intense joy to hear the woman escape with her treasures. Then her 

 husband and self lay down, not ready perhaps and certainly not willing but expecting and 

 resigned to die, now that their children were safe. 



Of eighteen shocks recorded at Santiago before midnight of the 2d, some occurred whilst 

 the assistants were at work on Santa Lucia, and of these they distinctly recognised the warning 

 noise to the N.E., in one instance, full fifteen seconds before the earth under foot was in 

 motion. Most of them were slight : some lasted only a second or two ; others continued nearly 



* Personally verified. 



