366 



NORTHERN CHILE 



CHAP. 



patches ; the grass being sparingly scattered in hair-Hke fibres a 

 full inch in length. Before this shower every part of the surface 

 was bare as on a high-road. 



In the evening Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining 

 with Mr. Edwards, an English resident well known for his 

 hospitality by all who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp 

 earthquake happened. I heard the forecoming rumble, but from 

 the screams of the ladies, the running of the servants, and the 

 rush of several of the gentlemen to the doorway, I could not 



COQUIMBO, CHILE. 



distinguish the motion. Some of the women afterwards were 

 crying with terror, and one gentleman said he should not be able 

 to sleep all night, or if he did, it would only be to dream of 

 falling houses. The father of this person had lately lost all his 

 property at Talcahuano, and he himself had only just escaped a 

 falling roof at Valparaiso in 1822. He mentioned a curious 

 coincidence which then happened : he was playing at cards, when 

 a German, one of the party, got up, and said he would never sit 

 in a room in these countries with the door shut, as, owing to his 

 having done so, he had nearly lost his life at Copiapo. Accord- 



