Ic, 



i'^Xx 





' 'iten 



, 1 ^^^t 



ad i 



s 



at 





Some 



of 



f^ ■-' n 



) 



-cnr at 



■^ water 



0. Tliej 



to tliose 



' of tliem 



more 



the 



<1 to 



althoiicrli 



me 



« ^ 4 



' position 

 ined that 



in l^ooj 



>t spring 

 . eiit lip- 



mt port; 



, ret to 



:lie 1110'"^ 



me HgW 

 there is 



I 



to SI 



ink 



L 

 



740, 1'J 



I 



.•Uii« 



ric^' 



Ch. XXX.] 



EAETHQUAKE IN PEEU. 



157 



the same fate. There were 23 ships and vessels, great and 

 small, in the harbour of Callao, of which 19 were sunk ; and 

 the other 4, among which was a frigate called St. Fermin, 

 were carried bj the force of the waves to a great distance up 

 the country, and left on drj ground at a considerable height 

 above the sea. The number of inhabitants in this city 

 amounted to 4,000. 200 only escaped, 22 of whom were 

 saved on a small fragment of the fort of Yera Cruz, which 

 remained as the only memorial of the town after this dreadful 

 inundation. Other portions of its site were completely 

 covered with heaps of sand and gravel. 



A volcano in Lucanas burst forth the same night, and 

 such quantities of water descended from the cone that the 

 whole country was overflowed ; and in the mountain near 

 Pataz, called Conversiones de Caxamarquilla, three other 

 volcanos burst out, and frightful torrents of water swept 

 down their sides."^ 



There are several records of prior convulsions in Peru, 

 accompanied by similar inroads in the sea, one of which 

 happened 59 years before (in 1687), when the ocean, ac- 

 cording to TJUoa, first retired and then returned in a moun- 

 tainous wave, overwhelming Callao and its environs, with 

 the miserable inhabitants. f This same wave, according to 

 Lionel Wafer, carried ships a leasrue into the countrv. and 

 drowned man and beast for 60 



leagues along: the 



shore. J 

 Inundations of still earlier dates are carefully recorded by 



Ulloa, Wafer, Acosta, and various writers, who describe 



some 



some 



But all authentic accounts cease when we ascend to the 

 era of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards. The ancient 

 Peruvians, although far removed from barbarism, were with- 

 out written annals, and therefore unable to preserve a distinct 

 recollection of a long series of natural events. They had, 

 however, according to Antonio de Herrera, who, in the 

 beginning of the 1 7th century, investigated their antiquities, 



* 



UUoa's Voyage to South America, 



vol. ii. book vii. chap. yii. 

 t Ibid. vol. ii. p. 82. 



I Wafer, cited by Sir W. Parish, 

 Geol. Soc. Proceedings, vol. ii. p. 215. 



