EARTHQUAKE AT COPIAPO. 



feet almost choked us, and the day being dread- 

 fully hot, our thirst became excessive, so that we 

 hailed with delight the sight of a stream ; but, 

 alas ! the water proved to be brine, being con- 

 taminated by passing through the salt soil. 



The country, except where the stream stole 

 sluggishly along, was quite a desert ; but to our 

 surprise, we felt none of that fatigue and depres- 

 sion of spirits, which, in a peculiar degree, had 

 affected every one, when travelling at other places 

 across utterly barren and level wastes. The 

 agreeable distinction between the present and 

 other journeys across sandy countries was re- 

 marked by several of the party. We sought to 

 account for it by the circumstance of having con- 

 stantly in view, though at a great distance, several 

 of the beautiful and towering ridges of the Andes. 

 The horizon, in the east and north, and partially 

 in the south, was bounded by this lofty chain of 

 mountains, which rose one above another with 

 such an endless variety of outline, that the eye 

 was never tired of contemplating them ; and 

 although they were as barren as the country we 

 were riding through, the different shades of the 

 air-tints, caused by the different heights and great 

 distances of these mountains, gave a mixture of 

 softness and sublimity to the landscape to which 

 no language can do justice in expression. 



At the distance of forty miles from the port, we 

 came to the farm-house of Ramadilla, where the 

 obliging proprietor entreated us to alight, while 

 his people prepared fresh horses and mules, for 

 the remainder of the journey to Copiap6, still four 

 or five leagues off. Shortly after remounting, 

 everything wore a new and more pleasing aspect ; 

 for, from the moment of entering the Ramadilla 

 grounds, cultivation and pasture, and abundance 

 of verdure, were seen on all sides. The cause of 

 this change was another little streamlet, the water, 

 however, of which was fresh, gladdening every- 

 thing through which it passed. We are, in 

 general, so much accustomed to see what is called 

 spontaneous vegetation, that we forget the obli- 

 gation which the soil lies under to moisture ; but 

 in a country without either rain or dew, the case 

 is different, and wherever a stream is found, the 

 debt is gratefully acknowledged. 



By the time the sun had set, we became com- 

 pletely bewildered amongst the lower Andes, and, 

 but for the guide, must soon have lost ourselves. 

 When it became dark, we were left in that mys- 

 terious and rather pleasing state of uncertainty, 

 which belongs peculiarly to night-travelling, in a 

 country totally new. 



At Copiapd, our party were kindly received 

 by a most intelligent and gentlemanly person, a 

 native of the island of Chiloe, on the south coast 

 of Chili. 



We rose early next morning, impatient to see 

 the effects of the earthquake, which over night, 

 indeed, had been partly visible by candle-light, 

 for the house we were in, the only one in this 

 part of the town which had not been thrown 

 down, was cracked and twisted in the most extra- 

 ordinary manner. It was built of wood, plastered 

 over, and the main uprights having been thrust 

 deep into the ground, the heaving of the earth 

 had wrenched the parts of the building asunder, 

 and without demolishing it altogether, had given 

 it the torn appearance which it still retained. 



In the Plaza, every house except this single one 

 and a small chapel, was completely destroyed. 

 The walls had tumbled in all directions, some 

 inwards, some outwards, presenting a scene sin- 

 gularly ruinous and melancholy. It was obvious 

 at a glance, that this was the work not of years, 

 but of a cause at once general and rapid in its 

 effects. In a climate such as this, without rain, 

 the footsteps of time fall so very lightly, that it is 

 probable these ruins were much in the same 

 state as on the day when they were cast down, 

 two years and a half before, and will remain in 

 the same state for many years to come. The 

 walls being from three to four feet thick, none of 

 them above twelve feet high, and built of large 

 flat sun-dried bricks, were calculated, it might 

 have been supposed, to withstand the shocks even 

 of an earthquake ; yet, notwithstanding their 

 strength, they seem to have been toppled down 

 like so many castles of cards. The little chapel 

 above-mentioned was built by the Jesuits, who 

 had bolstered it up with a set of monstrous but- 

 tresses, occupying an area considerably greater 

 than the chapel itself ; which nevertheless was 

 so twisted about, that the roof had fallen in and 

 the walls were cracked in all directions. Some 

 houses had been so shaken that not a brick 

 retained its original place, yet the walls were 

 standing, though with a most ghost-like appear- 

 ance ; and at such an angle, that, in passing we 

 were not quite free from apprehension of their 

 falling upon us ; indeed there was hardly a single 

 wall which was not sloping over more or less. In 

 some places the buttresses were shaken down and 

 gone, but the shattered wall was left standing ; 

 and in many cases the wall and its supporter had 

 been torn apart from each other, and were in- 

 clined in opposite directions. The great church, 

 called La Merced, fell on the 4th of April 1819, 

 one day after the earthquake began, and seven 

 days before the great shock which completely 

 destroyed the town. Its side walls, and part of 

 one end, were left standing in a dislocated and 

 inclined state, and rent from top to bottom ; but 

 what was curious, the buttresses, which appear 

 to have been broad and substantial ones, were 

 almost all thrown down. One of them, however, 

 which still remained, was fairly wrenched apart 

 from the building it had been intended to sup- 

 port, the wall touching it at the ground, but 

 standing a yard and a half from it at the top. It 

 appears, therefore, as ought to have been anti- 

 cipated by the architects of Copiapo, that these 

 supports contribute nothing to the stability of 

 a wall opposed to the shaking of an earthquake : 

 their real use is to resist a lateral thrust out- 

 wards, not to act against a vibratory motion of 

 the ground on which they stand. In a situation 

 such as this, constantly exposed to these visita- 

 tions, the houses ought to be constructed on the 

 principle of a ship, with timber firmly bolted 

 together, and as little as possible connected with 

 the ground. If this were attended to, there 

 need never be the least danger : for at the worst 

 it is not to be supposed that the motion of the 

 earth can amount in degree to that of the waves 

 of the sea. Instead of adopting some such principle, 

 however, the Copiaponians, by following blindly 

 the rules of architecture in undisturbed situations, 

 exert themselves solely in making deep found- 



