86 The Earthquake at Mendoza, 20th March, 1861. 



Great Andes. It is shut out from any view of the Cordillera 

 by a range of lower mountains which intervene. The appear- 

 ance of the city before the earthquake was neat and cheerful, 

 the houses of one story, with porticoes, mostly built of adobes, a 

 sun-dried brick, plastered and whitewashed, and the streets laid 

 out at right angles. Its Alameda or public walk was equal to 

 anything of the kind in South America, being nearly a mile in 

 length, nicely kept, and shaded by rows of magnificent poplars, 

 or alamos, from which its name. 



The climate is delightful and salubrious, although goitre 

 affects a few. The population of the city before its destruc- 

 tion was some 16,000 souls, about one-third of that of the 

 whole province. The Province of Mendoza occupies a space 

 of 150 miles N. and S., along the eastern side of the Cordillera 

 of the Andes, and about as much E. and W. It produces 

 wine, brandy, raisins, figs, wheat, flour, hides, tallow, soap, etc. 

 Of its mines, those of silver at Uspallata are important ; and v 

 among its mineral products are reckoned, copper, limestone, 

 gypsum, alum, mineral pitch, bituminous shales, coal (probably 

 tertiary), slates, fire-clays, saline deposits, including, it is said, 

 nitrate and sulphate of soda, and indications of boras. 



In the Andean region of this province, in a N.W. direction 

 from Mendoza, is the volcano of Aconcagua, more than 23,000 

 feet above the sea; that of Tupungato, to the S.W. ; that of 

 Maipu, to S.S.W. (15,000 feet); and that of Peteroa, S. of the 

 Maipu. 



Having thus made the reader acquainted with the locality, 

 I will leave the following extracts from letters to tell the story 

 of the disaster : — 



" Mendoza, March 22nd, 1861. 



" This city was visited by an awful earthquake, at 8*45 p.m. 

 the evening of the 20th inst. In seven or eight seconds 

 the whole city and habitations in the vicinity were in ruins, 

 beneath which disappeared about two-thirds of the population, 

 say 12,000. I assisted to save Don F. Garfia, who had been 

 ten hours buried under ruins, two yards in depth." 



Another person writes on same date : — " I have only lost two 

 of my children and the nurse. My wife and the rest of the 

 family were buried for a time, but we got them out, they aro 

 much hurt." 



On the 24th, another letter says: — "At 8*45 p.m., tho 

 Tcremoto or scvero earthquake took place. In a moment, 

 three-fourths of the city was in ruins ; the greater portion of 

 the inhabitants aro victims. The 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, tho 

 shocks continued at intervals, when the remainder of the houses 

 fell. Tho few inhabitants loft alive aro doing their best to 

 search for and rcscuo the buried ones. 



