VOL. XVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTION'S. 629 



That part which is now standing, is part of the end of that neck of land which 

 runs into the sea, and makes this harbour, and is now a perfect island ; the 

 whole neck of land from the port of Port-Royal now standing, to the pallisa- 

 does, or other end of Port-Royal towards the land, which is above a quarter of 

 a mile, being quite discontinued and lost in the earthquake; and is now also, 

 with all the houses, quite under water. This part of Port-Royal which is now 

 standing, is said to stand upon a rock : but alas' the strange rents and tearings 

 of the mountains here sufficiently evince, that rocks and sand are equally 

 unable to withstand the force of a violent earthquake. The ground heaved and 

 swelled like a rolling swelling sea ; by which means several houses now standing 

 "were shuffled and moved some yards from their places. One whole street is 

 said to be twice as broad now as before the earthquake ; and in many places the 

 ground w'ould crackle, and open and shut quick and fast : of which small open- 

 ings have been seen 2 or 300 at one time, in some whereof many people were 

 swallowed up ; some the earth caught by the middle, and squeezed to death ; 

 the heads of others only appeared above ground ; some were swallowed quite 

 down, and cast up again by great quantities of water ; others went down, and 

 were nevermore seen. These were the smallest openings. Others, that were 

 larger, swallowed up great houses; and out of some gapings would issue whole 

 rivers of water, spouted up a great height into the air, which seemed to 

 threaten a deluge to that part of Port-Royal, which the earthquake seemed to 

 favour, accompanied with offensive smells, by means of which openings, and 

 the vapours at that time emitted from the earth into the air, the sky, which be- 

 fore was clear and blue, was in a minute's time become dull and reddish, look- 

 ing like a red-hot oven. All these dreadful circumstances occurring at once, 

 accompanied with prodigious loud noises from the mountains, occasioned by 

 their falling, &c. and also a hollow noise under ground, and people running 

 from one place to another distracted with fear, made the whole so terrible, that 

 people thought the dissolution of the whole frame of the world was at hand. 

 Indeed it is melancholy now to see the chimnies and tops of some houses, and 

 the masts of ships appear above water ; and when one first comes ashore, to see 

 so many heaps of ruins; to see so many houses shattered, some half fallen 

 down, the rest desolated and without inhabitants; to see where houses have been 

 swallowed up, some appearing half above ground, and of others the chimnies 

 only ; but above all, to stand on the sea-shore, and to look over that part of 

 the neck of land, which for above a quarter of a mile was quite swallowed up ; 

 there, where once brave streets of stately houses stood, appearing now nothing 

 but water, except here and there a chimney, and some parts and pieces of 

 houses. 



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