The Great Earthquake. 159 



other, the cardiiig-machines were thrown on their sides, and 

 the roof, with part of the machinery, was found in the riv- 

 er below. The proprietor was killed. Throughout this 

 whole region roads were broken up, and vast chasms cre- 

 ated crossing the country in all directions. One is 2000 

 yards long, 500 yards broad, and 80 yards deep. Large fis- 

 sures were opened on the sides of Cotocachi and Imbabura, 

 fi'om which issued immense torrents of water, mud, and bi 

 tuminous substances, carrying away and drowning hundreds 

 of cattle. A caravan of mules going to Chillo with cotton 

 bales was found four days after grazing on a narrow strip 

 of land, on each side of which was a fearful chasm, while 

 the muleteers were killed. 



At Quito comparatively little damage was done. Fif- 

 teen lives were lost, and the churches, convents, and many 

 private houses are in a state of dilapidation. Domes and 

 arches, which are much used because of the scarcity of tim- 

 ber, were first to fall. 



In the fierceness of the shock, and the extent of the ter- 

 ritory shaken, the earthquake of August, 1868, is without a 

 parallel in the JN'ew World. The destruction of life (50,000 

 ofiicially reported in Ecuador alone) has not been equaled 

 in any other earthquake during this century. The tremor 

 was felt over four republics, and from the Andes to the 

 Sandwich Islands. The water-wave was felt on the coast 

 of Xew Zealand sixteen hours after it had set a United 

 States gunboat on the sand-hills of Arica. In some re- 

 spects it is surpassed only by the Lisbon earthquake, which 

 reached from Sweden to the West Indies, and from Barba- 

 ry to Scotland. The loss of property seems to have been 

 greatest in Peru, and the loss of life greatest in Ecuador. 

 The commotion seemed to be most violent along the West- 

 em Cordillera, though it was felt even on tlie Napo. 



There are few places where the crust of our planet is 



