QUINTERO. 307 
lay down with such bedding as they could get round the tent. It 
was now twelve o'clock: the earth was still at unrest; and shocks, 
accompanied by noises like the explosion of gunpowder, or rather 
like those accompanying the jets of fire from a volcano, returned 
every two minutes. I lay with my watch in my hand counting them 
for forty-five minutes ; and then, wearied out, I fell asleep: but a 
little before two o’clock a loud explosion and tremendous shock 
roused every one; and a horse anda pig broke loose, and came to 
take refuge among us. At four o’clock there was another violent 
shock; and the interval had been filled with a constant trembling, 
with now and then a sort of cross-motion, the general direction of 
the undulations being north and south. At a quarter past six o’clock 
there was another shock, which at another time would have been 
felt severely ; since that hour, though there has been a continued 
series of agitations, such as to shake and even spill water from a 
‘glass, and though the ground is still trembling under me, there has 
been nothing to alarm us. J write at four o'clock p.m.— At day- 
light I went out of the tent to look at the earth. The dew was on 
the grass, and all looked as beautiful as if the night’s agitation had 
not taken place ; but here and there cracks of various sizes appeared 
in various parts of the hill. At the roots of the trees, and the bases 
of the posts supporting the veranda, the earth appeared separate, 
so that I could put my hand in; and had the appearance of earth 
where the gardener’s dibble had been used. By seven o’clock per- 
sons from various quarters had arrived, either to enquire after our 
fate, or communicate their own. From Valle Alegri, a village on the 
estate, we hear that many, even of the peasants’ houses, are damaged, 
and some destroyed. In various places in the middle of the gardens, 
the earth has cracked, and water and sand have been forced up 
through the surface; some banks have fallen in, and the water- 
courses are much injured. 
Mr. Cruikshank has ridden over from old Quintero: he tells us 
that great fissures are made on the banks of the lake; the house is 
not habitable; some of its inmates were thrown down by the shock, 
RR 2 
