366 



NORTHEJ^X CHILE 



patches ; the yrass being .sparingly scattered in hair-hke fibres a 

 fuU inch in length. Before this shower ever)- part of the surface 

 was bare as on a liigh-road. 



In the ex'ening Captain Fitz Ro)' and mj-sclf were dining 

 \\'ith j\Ir. Edward.s, an English resident well known for his 

 hospitalit)' by all who ha\-c \'isited 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 



CUr^UIMliO, 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 lie did, it \\'ould onl\- be to dream of 

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

 property at Talcahuano, and he himself had onl)' just escaped a 

 falling roof at Valj.iarais(.) in 1822. He mentioned a curious 

 coincidence which then happened ; he was plaj'ing at cards, when 

 a Cjcrman, one of the part)', got up, and said he w ould never sit 

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

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



