QUINTERO. 3q>7 



lay down with such bedding as they could get round the tent. It 

 was now twelve o'clock : the earth was still at unrest ; and shocks, 

 accompanied by noises like the explosion of gunpowder, or rather 

 like those accompanying the jets of fire from a volcano, returned 

 every two minutes. I lay with my watch in my hand counting them 

 for forty-five minutes ; and then, wearied out, I fell asleep : but a 

 little before two o'clock a loud explosion and tremendous shock 

 roused every one ; and a horse and a pig broke loose, and came to 

 take refuge among us. At four o'clock there was another violent 

 shock ; and the interval had been rilled with a constant trembling, 

 with now and then a sort of cross-motion, the general direction of 

 the undulations being north and south. At a quarter past six o'clock 

 there was another shock, which at another time would have been 

 felt severely ; since that hour, though there has been a continued 

 series of agitations, such as to shake and even spill water from a 

 glass, and though the ground is still trembling under me, there has 

 been nothing to alarm us. / write at four o'clock p. m. — At day- 

 light I went out of the tent to look at the earth. The dew was on 

 the grass, and -all looked as beautiful as if the night's agitation had 

 not taken place ; but here and there cracks of various sizes appeared 

 in various parts of the hill. At the roots of the trees, and the bases 

 of the posts supporting the veranda, the earth appeared separate, 

 so that I could put my hand in ; and had the appearance of earth 

 where the gardener's dibble had been used. By seven o'clock per- 

 sons from various quarters had arrived, either to enquire after our 

 fate, or communicate their own. From Valle Alegri, a village on the 

 estate, we hear that many, even of the peasants' houses, are damaged, 

 and some destroyed. In various places in the middle of the gardens, 

 the earth has cracked, and water and sand have been forced up 

 through the surface; some banks have fallen in, and the water- 

 courses are much injured. 



Mr. Cruikshank has ridden over from old Quintero : he tells us 

 that great fissures are made on the banks of the lake ; the house is 

 not habitable ; some of its inmates were thrown down by the shock, 



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