304 JOURNAL. 
Pinchincha than where Humboldt had left his mark. I enquired of 
him, whether the people in any“of the countries he has lived in had 
an idea that earthquakes could be considered as periodical, and 
whether the few instances in which they had occurred twice at 
regular intervals were thought to promise farther coincidences ; men- 
tioning, that in that case we wanted but a year or two at most of the 
return of the severe earthquake of this part of Chile. But I could 
not learn that any Indian superstition or tradition pointed that way, 
any more than the speculations of European natural philosophers ; 
and, indeed, twice within these five years, Coquimbo and Copiapo, 
hitherto described as never touched by these calamities, have been 
utterly destroyed, and have thus contradicted some theories about 
situations, soils, &c. * 
18th. —We tried to persuade Mrs. Miers to remain with us, but in 
vain. She was anxious to return to her children, and accordingly 
left us in time to get home by daylight. I made a little sketch of the 
house; and having found a lithographic press here, I mean to draw it 
on stone, and so produce the first print of any kind that has been 
done in Chile ; or, I believe, on this side of South America. 
* This conversation may appear to be imagined after the event; but it was not so. 
Our company consisted of Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Miers, Mr. Glennie, and myself; and many 
a time afterwards did we recall this evening’s discourse. 
