CARTHAGO DELETA EST 483 



of which the hotel and a large house opposite, both built 

 by the Troyo family, were excellent examples, had bamboo 

 poles built into the walls. The bamboo served to bind the 

 bricks together and greatly increased both the strength 

 and elasticity of the structure. In our hotel some of the 

 walls were fully three feet thick and two-foot walls were 

 frequent. Some of the inner partitions, such as the one 

 between our room and the next, were actually built of fire- 

 burnt brick and the whole seemed exceedingly strong. No 

 portion of it was marked by the engineers to be taken down 

 or rebuilt, and indeed one of them asserted no earthquake 

 could possibly throw down such buildings. 



We had only felt a few slight shocks at Juan Vinas and 

 when I returned to Cartago everyone seemed to think the 

 worst was over, since the rains had begun and there was a 

 steady decrease in both numbers and intensity of the quakes. 

 Many people whose houses had not been badly injured 

 had returned to them, although the squares and plazas and 

 poorer streets were still full of tents and temporary shelters 

 which were occupied by the refugees from condemned houses. 

 This apparent improvement continued until the fourth of 

 May, when we felt three shocks, at noon, at one and at four 

 o'clock in the afternoon, sufficiently strong to bring people 

 running into the streets again. 



P. returned from Juan Vifias late in the afternoon of May 

 4 and after a delayed dinner we went to our room about 

 six-thirty to read the letters which had accumulated during 

 his absence. As we sat there, as close as possible to the 

 single electric bulb, there came — without the slightest pre- 

 liminary roar or faint shock — a most terrific earthquake. 

 The lights went out instantly. Because we happened to 

 face that way we rushed toward the door but it was impossi- 

 ble to stand. The motion was entirely up and down, not 

 lateral, and we were thrown to the floor on hands and knees 



