Tlie Earthquake at Mendoza, 20th March, 1861. 85 



a common expression well understood — paid for themselves 

 over and over again in the saving of wages and of gold 

 effected by their use. The maximum number of planchets 

 which the automatons can satisfactorily " dispose of" in a day 

 amounts to 200,000, and the average per cent, of rejected may 

 be set down at five. At the close of each day the whole pro- 

 ceeds are weighed up in bulk — the good planchets being after- 

 wards forwarded for stamping, and the bad returned to the 

 crucible for re-melting. An attempt has been made to save 

 some of the "too heavy/' as brands from the burning, by 

 filing and scraping their edges in a noisy machine; but the 

 value of the process is questionable. If their surfaces could be 

 touched in a discriminating way by means of a file, or cutter, 

 the case might be different. As it is, the coins are likely to 

 suffer artistically by the use of the scraper, and this is an 

 undue price to be paid for a problematical advantage. We 

 give at p. 73 an illustration representing one of the Automaton 

 Balances of the Mint, the artist having removed a portion of 

 the "case" so that the " works " may be the better seen. 



THE EARTHQUAKE AT MENDOZA, 20th MARCH, 1861. 



BY WM. BOLLAEKT. 

 (With a Tinted Plate.) 



I am indebted to my friend Major Rickard,* who visited 

 Mendoza in May, 1862, for the admirable photographic view of 

 the devastation occasioned by the dreadful earthquake which 

 occurred on the 20th March, 1861, and which is excellently 

 shown in the annexed plate, and also for a remarkable letter 

 written by Don Domingo de Oro, a gentleman who was buried 

 for five hours beneath the ruins of the city, and containing many 

 interesting and hitherto unpublished facts. I have translated 

 this letter from the original Spanish, believing that it would bo 

 acceptable to English readers j but before introducing Don 

 Domingo's terrible recital, I will offer a few remarks relative to 

 the city and province of Mendoza, and make the narrative more 

 complete by citations from other letters written from the scene 

 of the disaster. 



Mendoza is situated in 32° 52' S. lat., 69° 6' W. long., 4891 

 feet above the level of the sea, and at the eastern foot of the 



* See A Muting Journey across the Great Andes, with Explorations in the 

 Silver Mining Districts of San Juan and Mendoza, by Major F. J. Rickard, F.G.S., 

 etc. etc.— Smith, Elder, $ Co., 1863. 



