IgO JOURNAL. 



IQth. — We have had two slight shocks of an earthquake to-day. 

 The sensations occasioned by them are particularly disagreeable. In all 

 other convulsions of nature it seems possible to do, or at least attempt, 

 something to avert danger. We steer the ship in a storm for a port ; 

 our conductors promise to lead the lightning harmless from our 

 heads : but the earthquake seems to rock the very foundations of 

 the globe, and escape or shelter seems equally impossible. The phy- 

 sical effect too is unpleasant — it resembles sea-sickness. The fre- 

 quency of earthquakes here by no means renders the people insensi- 

 ble to their occurrence. In the streets of Valparaiso, I recollect 

 seeing them run out, fall upon their knees, and pray to all the saints. 

 Here, in the country, the peasants leave off work, pull off their hats, 

 beat their breasts, and cry Misericordia, and all leave their houses. 

 One of the shocks to-day lasted nearly a minute ; it was accompanied 

 by a loud noise, like the sudden escape of vapour from a close place. 

 It is said that earthquakes are most frequent about the beginning of 

 the rainy season. Some however, I know not on what data, have 

 fixed on the months of October and November as most liable to 

 them. Some writers have asserted, that the provinces of Copiapo 

 and Coquimbo are exempt from them ; yet twice within the last five 

 years Coquimbo has been totally destroyed, and Copiapo seriously 

 injured, and once nearly ruined. Nearly ninety years ago, during 

 one at Valparaiso, the sea overflowed the whole of the Almendral ; 

 and about the same period nearly one-third of Santiago, the capital, 

 was thrown down. 



ISth. — The earthquakes have been followed by two days of inces- 

 sant rain ; but the thermometer, though it is mid-winter, has not 

 fallen below 50°. The rivulet between the Almendral and my gar- 

 den is so swollen, that there has been no communication with the 

 town these two days, and a man was drowned yesterday in attempt- 

 ing to cross it. There is a report, that this government will join the 

 Peruvian in an attack on Arica, where the royalists are again mas- 

 ters, and that the Admiral is to conduct the expedition. 'Tis not 

 probable. In the first place, His Lordship has returned to his coun- 



