ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 59 1 



(Quarters after nine in the morning. 2, The 1 9th of the fame month, at midnight, 

 3. The 27th, at thirty-five minutes after three in the evening. 4. The 12th of June, 

 at three quarters pad five in the morning. 5. The 14th of October, at nine at night ; 

 all which I carefully noted. And it muil be obferved, that thefe concuffions were the 

 mod confiderable, and lafled near a minute ; particularly that of the 27th of May, 

 which continued near two minutes, beginning with one violent fhock, and gradually 

 terminating in tremulous motions. Between thefe above noted were feveral others, 

 which I omitted, as being neither fo. lafling nor violent. 



Thefe earthquakes, though fo fudden, have their prefages, one of the principal of 

 which is, a rumbling noife in the bowels of the earth, about a minute before the 

 fhocks are felt ; and this noife does not continue in the place where it was firft pro- 

 duced, but feems to pervade all the adjacent fubterraneous parts. This is followed by 

 difmal bowlings of the dogs, which feem to have the firft perception of the approaching 

 danger. The beafts of burden paffmg the ftreets, ftop, and, by a natural inftind, 

 fpread open their legs, the better to fecure themfelves from falling. Opt thefe portents 

 the terrified inhabitants fly from their houfes into the ftreets with fuch precipitation, 

 that if it happens inthe night, they appear quite naked ; fear and the urgency of the 

 danger, banifhing at once all fenfe of decency. Thus the ftreets exhibit fuch odd and 

 Jingular figures, that might even afford matter for diverfion, were it pofTible in fo ter- 

 rible a moment. The fudden concourfe is accompanied with the cries of children 

 waked out of their fleep, blended with the lamentations of the women, whofe agonizing 

 prayers to the faints increafe the common fear and confufion : the men alfo are too 

 much affefted to refrain from giving vent to their terror ; fo that the whole city exhibits 

 one dreadful fcene of confternation and horror. Nor does this end with the fhock, 

 none venturing to return to their houfes through fear of a repetition, which frequently 

 demolifhes thofe buildings which had been weakened by the firft. 



My attention to fet down the exa6l time of the above-mentioned fhocks, taught me, 

 that they happen indifferently at half-ebb or half-flood, but never at high or low water : 

 which fufficiently confutes what fome have confidently advanced, namely, that earths 

 quakes always happen during the fix hours of ebb, but never during the flood : be- 

 caufe this favours the hypothefis they have advanced to account for their origin and 

 caufes ; an hypothefis which, in my opinion, does not fufficiently correfpond with 

 obfervations, as to recommend itfelf to the affent of intelligent perfons. 



The nature of this country is fo adapted to earthquakes, that all ages have feen their 

 terrible devaftations : and that nothing may be wanting to fatisfy the curiofity of the 

 reader, I fhall introduce the account of that which laid this large and fplendid city 

 totally in ruins, with a fhort narrative of the moft remarkable that have been felt in 

 latter ages. 



1. The firft concuflion fince the eftablifhment of the Spaniards in thefe parts, hap- 

 pened in 1582, a few years after the foundation of Lima; but the damage was much 

 lefs than in fome of the fucceeding, being chiefly confined to the city of Arequipa, 

 which being fituated near that fpot, where the motion of the earth was moft violent, 

 the greateft part of it was deftroyed. 



2. On the 9th of July 1586, Lima was vifited with another earthquake, and fo 

 violent, that even to this time it is folemnly commemorated on the day of the vifitation 

 of Elizabeth. 



3. In 1609, another like the former happened. 



4. On the 27th of November 1630, fuch prodigious damage was done in the city 

 by an earthquake, and the entire ruin of it apprehended, that in acknowledgment of 



its 



