On the Harthquake in Chile, 1851. 389 
that the roofs and tiles of the houses in front were “dancing like 
mad ;” and knowledge that the affrighted people were invokin 
the mercy of their God in the utmost distress, and the rattle of 
windows and doors was making no small addition to the uproar, 
still several seconds must have elapsed before I could realize the 
“actual magnitude of the storm agitating the crust of our abiding- 
Place. Nevertheless, experience having taught that the phenom- 
enon is of little continuance, there was sufficient rationality to 
prevent my leaving the room; and I stood with senses gradually 
Teturning, thinking each vibration would be the last. But I 
watched and watched the dial of the monitor in my hand, and, 
' Instead of subsiding, there came accessions to the force of the 
moving power with each beat of its balance-wheel, till the walls 
ob either side were swaying to and fro, the plank ceiling screech- 
ing overhead, and finally the doors flew open, exhibiting the op- 
posite room filled with a cloud of dust, and its floor covered with 
broken adobes, which had fallen between the ceiling and walls. 
Half a minute had now elapsed, each second of which seemed at 
least a day; and in the fiercest violence, as the creaking of the 
ceiling was too ominous to disregard longer, I found myself creep- 
ing for shelter beneath the lintel of the door. Of a sudden the 
wall swayed away from the roof, showing the blue sky above, 
and a mass of rubbish fell, blinding and almost stifling me; so 
that it became necessary to take refuge under the lintel of the 
outside door, where fresh air might be obtained. As the tiles 
were falling in a shower from the roofs, eseape to the patio was 
more hazardous than to remain under the doorway; for one had 
better risk being partially buried than have his head split with 
One of these heavy pieces of earthenware. 
The motion had now become fearful, and the roar of the pent 
Up vapor, as it moved heavily along, most awful; yet every little 
while there wonld reach me the clear ringing langh of one of 
the assistants—inspired by the efforts of a companion to attain a 
Place of greater apparent safety—marked contrasts of expre 
human sensations in this terrestrial convulsion. I was not con- 
Scious of fear at any instant, nor was it possible to make the 
Where fly to? The massive stone arches of the sanctuary had 
been broken, their key-stones had partially fallen, and the priests 
ad been driven from the altars by masses of masonry precipi- 
tated around them ; the hills were shaking huge rocks from crests 
