192 WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



CHILE. 



rush of several of the gentlemen to the doorway, 1 could not 

 distinguish the motion. Some of the women afterward were 

 crying with terror, and one gentleman said he should not be 

 able to sleep all night, or if he did, it would only be to dream 

 of falling houses. The father of this person had lately lost 

 all his property at Talcahuano, and he himself had only just 

 escaped a falling roof at Valparaiso, in 1822. He mentioned 

 a curious coincidence which then happened : he was playing 

 at cards, when a German, one of the party, got up, and said 

 he would never sit in a room in these countries with the 

 door shut, as, owing to his having done so, he had nearly 

 lost his life at Copiapo. Accordingly he opened the door, 

 and no sooner had he done this than he cried out, " Here it 

 comes again !" and the famous shock commenced. The whole 

 party escaped. The danger in an earthquake is not from 

 the time lost in opening a door, but from the chance of its 

 being jammed by the movement of the walls. 



It is impossible to be much surprised at the fear which 

 natives and old residents, though some of them known to be 

 men of great command of mind, so generally experience 

 during earthquakes. I think, however, this excess of panic 

 may be partly attributed to a want of habit in governing 

 their fear, as it is not a feeling they are ashamed of. Indeed, 

 the natives do not like to see a person indifferent. I heard 

 of two Englishmen who, sleeping in the open air during a 

 smart shock, knowing that there was no danger, did not rise. 

 The natives cried out indignantly, " Look at those heretics ; 

 they will not even get out of their beds !" 



