8 



TERROR EXCITED BY AN EARTHQUAKE. 



do not think I have felt one myself for three days 

 — somebody said there was one last night, but I 

 knew nothing of it — I am tired of these earth- 

 quakes — and would never think of them again if I 

 were once at dear Coquimbo !" 



On putting the same question to another person 

 present, he said, they had not experienced one since 

 April ; meaning, as I discovered, April 1819, two 

 years and a half before ; not conceiving we could 

 possibly take any interest in such petty shocks as 

 would not demolish a town. An old man in com- 

 pany, however, seeing that we had been misunder- 

 stood, explained that it was a long time since they 

 had felt a shock of any consequence, ; and upon 

 our pressing him closely to say what he considered 

 a long time, replied, at least a month. 



On returning to the town we were gratified by 

 meeting two agreeable and intelligent men, whom 

 our considerate host had invited to meet us. They 

 were most willing to exchange their local infor- 

 mation for our news about the rest of the world, 

 with which they appeared to have extremely little 

 intercourse. We soon engaged them in conver- 

 sation about the great earthquake. It began, they 

 said, between eight and nine in the morning of the 

 3d of April 1819, and continued with gentle shocks 

 during that day and the next. At four in the after- 

 noon of the 4th, there came a violent shock, which 

 produced a waving or rolling motion in the ground, 

 like that of a ship at sea, which lasted for two 

 minutes. In every instance these shocks were 

 preceded by a loud rolling noise, compared by one 

 person to the echo of thunder amongst the hills ; 

 and by another to the roar of a subterranean 

 torrent, carrying along an enormous mass of rocks 

 and stones. Every person spoke of this sound 

 with an expression of the greatest horror. One of 

 the gentlemen said, it was " Espantoso !" (fright- 

 ful.) " Yes," added the other, shuddering at the 

 recollection, " horroroso !" 



Something peculiar in the shocks of the 4th of 

 April had excited more than ordinary fear in the 

 minds of the inhabitants, and, at a particular 

 moment, no one could tell distinctly why, they all 

 rushed in a body to the great church called La 

 Merced. Our informant happened to be standing 

 near this church at the time, and thinking, from 

 appearances, it would probably soon fall, called out 

 loudly to the people not to enter, but rather to 

 bring the images into the streets, where their in- 

 tercession would prove equally efficacious. For- 

 tunately, the prior of the church, who was just 

 entering the porch, saw the value of this advice, 

 and seconded it by his authority ; ordering the 

 people to remain without, and desiring those who 

 had already entered to bring the images instant- 

 ly into the street. The last man had scarcely 

 crossed the threshold with an image of San Antonio 

 on his shoulders, when a shock came, which, in 

 the twinkling of an eye, shook down the entire 

 roof and one end of the church, leaving it in the 

 state already described. Had not the people been 

 thus judiciously detained in the open air by our 

 friend's presence of mind, almost the whole popu- 

 lation of Copi&pd must have perished. 



One is apt on such occasions, when attended 

 with disastrous consequences, to blame the folly 

 andimprudence of peopleexposedtosudden danger. 

 But it ought to be remembered, that by far the 

 greater part of mankind are not trained to habits 



of quick decision and presence of mind ; and, in 

 fact, have practically little need of any such disci- 

 pline, as occasions of danger and difficulty are 

 rare. When accidents, however, arise, and our 

 safety depends entirely upon prompt and vigorous 

 measures, this defect in mental training becomes 

 very conspicuous, and often proves fatal. The 

 course to be followed is, in most cases, extremely 

 simple, and all that is wanted is the habit of view- 

 ing danger with composure, and learning that it is 

 most securely encountered by steadiness. 



After the fall of La Merced, and their provi- 

 dential escape, the inhabitants fled to the neigh- 

 bouring hills, leaving only one or two fool-hardy 

 people who chose to remain. Amongst these was 

 a German, who, as he told me himself, divided his 

 time in the Plaza between taking notes of the 

 various passing phenomena, and drinking drams 

 of aguardiente, the spirits of the country. Slight 

 shocks occasionally succeeded that on the 4th ; but 

 it was not till the 11th of April, seven days after 

 the fall of the church, that the formidable tremor 

 occurred, which, in an instant, laid the whole 

 town in ruins. It was accompanied as usual by a 

 subterranean sound, which, though at first of a low 

 tone, gradually swelled to a clear and dreadful 

 loudness, of which no one, I observed, even at this 

 distance of time, could speak without an involun- 

 tary shudder. 



After the first great shock, which levelled the 

 town, the ground continued in motion for seven 

 minutes, sometimes rising and falling, but more 

 frequently vibrating backwards and forwards with 

 great rapidity ; it then became still for some 

 minutes, then oscillated again, and so on, without 

 longer intermission than a quarter of an hour at 

 any one time, for several days. The earthquake 

 then abated a little ; the intervals became longer, 

 and the shocks not quite so violent : but it was 

 not till six months afterwards that it could be 

 said to be entirely over ; for the earth during 

 that period was never long steady, and the frightful 

 noises from beneath constantly portended fresh 

 calamities. 



While listening to these interesting descriptions, 

 we were much struck with the occasional intro- 

 duction of minute characteristic circumstances, 

 which, however trivial in themselves, served to 

 stamp the authenticity of the whole. One of the 

 party, for instance, was describing the effect of a 

 severe shock, which, he said, happened at four 

 o'clock in the afternoon. " Oh no," said another, 

 "it was later, I assure you." — "Indeed it was 

 not," answered the first ; " don't you remember 

 we were playing at bowls at the time, and when 

 the sound was heard I stopped playing, and you 

 called out to me to look what o'clock it was ; I 

 took out my watch, and told you it was past four ? " 

 Upon another occasion, our host said, " I was 

 just going to look what the hour was, at which 

 one of those sounds was first heard, when my 

 attention was diverted from the watch by a hideous 

 scream of terror from a person near me. He 

 was such a little insignificant wretch, that I had 

 not conceived so loud a yell could possibly have 

 come from his puny body ; and so we all for- 

 got the shock in quizzing this little manikin " 

 (hombrecito). " Nevertheless," added he, gravely, 

 " although I am not a man to cry out and play the 

 fool on such occasions, like my little friend, yet I 



