10 



AN EARTHQUAKE. 



Even so trifling a circumstance as this, if duly 

 considered, leads the mind to reflect on the inevi- 

 table consequences of all violent political changes. 

 On first arriving in South America, one is apt to 

 be dazzled by the brilliancy of the spectacle, and 

 to imagine that the good arising from the eman- 

 cipation of the people must be without alloy. 

 This delusive veil the successful party are ex- 

 tremely desirous of throwing over everything. 

 Experience, however, soon betrays the bitter 

 workings of fortune under a great variety of 

 shapes ; and it is a wholesome exercise, both to 

 the understanding and to the heart, to view such 

 examples attentively when they happen to occur. 

 In revolutionary times, especially, we may rest 

 assured, that in the midst of the most enthusiastic 

 public rejoicings, there will always be much secret 

 grief entitled to consideration and respect. The 

 incident above related was the first of its kind we 

 had seen, and on that account, perhaps, appeared 

 more striking than most of the numberless in- 

 stances of unmerited ruin and distress which we 

 afterwards met with, everywhere following the 

 footsteps of the revolution. 



18^ of Jan. — I went in the evening to visit a 

 family in the Almendral, or great suburb of Val- 

 paraiso. The ladies were ranged, as usual, along 

 the wall in a compact line, with their shawls 

 drawn over the head and across the chin, so as 

 nearly to conceal their face. One young lady 

 was playing the harp, and one the guitar ; while 

 others occasionally joined, with their shrill voices, 

 in singing the patriotic songs of the day. Some 

 were chatting, some working, and the evening 

 was passing away pleasantly enough, till suddenly, 

 and without any apparent cause, the whole party 

 jumped up, cast away their music and work, and 

 flew in the most frantic manner out of the house, 

 screaming aloud, Misericordia ! misericordia ! all 

 beating their breasts, and looking terrified beyond 

 description. I was astonished ; but, notwithstanding 

 my ignorance of the cause of the uproar, followed 

 the company into the street, calling out Miseri- 

 cordia ! as loud as any of them. It was a bright 

 moonlight evening, and the street, from end to 

 end, was filled with people ; some only half-dressed, 

 having just leaped from their beds — children, 

 snatched from their sleep, were crying in all 

 directions — many carried lights in their hands — 

 in short, such a scene of wild confusion and alarm 

 I never beheld ; all apparently occasioned by a 

 spontaneous movement, or, at least, without any 

 visible motive. After standing in the street for 

 about a minute, the whole crowd turned round 

 again and ran back to their houses ; so that, in 

 the course of a few seconds, the hubbub was 

 stilled, and not a mortal was to be seen. 



On returning to the room, I begged to know 

 the cause of this amazing commotion, having a 

 vague idea of its forming some part of a religious 

 ceremony, when, to my surprise, I learned that it 

 had been produced by an earthquake, so severe, 

 that the people had been afraid of the houses 

 tumbling about their ears, and had run into the 

 open sti'eet to avoid the danger : for my part, I 

 was totally unconscious of any motion, nor did I 

 even hear tin: sound, which they described as 

 unusually loud. 



On mentioning this fact afterwards in company, 

 I was assured, that for a considerable period after 



the arrival of foreigners, they are generally quite 

 insensible to shocks, which a native or an old 

 resident can at once distinguish. It may be men- 

 tioned also, as an unusual effect of experience, 

 that the sensation of alarm caused by feeling an 

 earthquake, unlike that caused by other kinds of 

 danger, goes on augmenting instead of diminishing 

 in amount ; and that one who at first ridicules the 

 terrors of the inhabitants, comes eventually to be 

 even more frightened than they are. 



19th of Jan. — An officer of the American frigate 

 Macedonian having died at Valparaiso, and there 

 being no ship of war of that nation in port, to 

 pay the accustomed honours to his remains, I 

 conceived it right to supply the place of his absent 

 countrymen, by attending with the officers of the 

 Conway, and great part of the crew, in procession 

 to the grave ; accompanied by all the Americans, 

 English, and other foreigners, without distinction, 

 who happened to be on the spot. In places remote 

 from home, an incident of this description makes 

 every stranger feel more strongly his insulated 

 situation — in the absence of our natural friends, 

 it disposes us instinctively to cling to those around, 

 who, being equally desolate, are always ready to 

 sympathise with us. 



On reaching the grave, even the most unre- 

 flecting were shocked to find that the body was to 

 be laid in unconsecrated ground ; for the former 

 masters of the country, it appeared, had syste- 

 matically denied to all foreigners, except such as 

 were Roman Catholics, the privilege of Christian 

 burial. But it is very gratifying to learn, that the 

 new government, in a spirit worthy of the times, 

 has since expressed the utmost readiness to grant 

 a piece of ground to be consecrated and set apart 

 for this purpose. 



2lst of Jan. — The Chilians are fond of making 

 pic-nic parties, to dine in the country, at any spot 

 which may suit them during an excursion ; and 

 to-day I happened to fall in with some friends 

 bent on such an expedition, all crowded into a 

 caretta, or covered waggon, on its way to the 

 hills. They wanted one more caballero, they said, 

 and I was well pleased to be permitted to join 

 them. We reached the destined spot in safety, 

 though sufficiently jolted, and well nigh deafened 

 by the creaking sound of the wheels, which, like 

 those in Spain, are kept purposely without grease, 

 in order, it is asserted, by this clumsy device, to 

 prevent smuggling — since no cart nor waggon can 

 pass within half a league of a custom-house officer 

 without calling his attention to the spot. Here 

 we found ourselves seated in the cool verandah of 

 a neatly-built cottage ; and the sea-breeze setting 

 in, was delightfully refreshing after our dusty drive 

 in the caretta. Our situation on the side of the 

 mountain commanded a full view of the bay and 

 shipping, as well as of the long line of houses 

 skirting the shore ; and the cottage being sur- 

 rounded by fruit-trees, such as figs, apples, peaches, 

 and oranges, and shaded by lofty tamarinds, " the 

 Vale of Paradise," the name given to the spot by 

 its discoverers, appeared no longer inappropriate ; 

 and was still further justified by our discovering 

 afterwards, when rambling amongst the hills, 

 undoubted traces of an ancient forest. We pleased 

 our imaginations by looking forward to the time 

 when industry and wealth shall again restore the 

 whole of this uncultivated scene to its former beauty. 



