90 The Earthquake at Mcndoza, 20th March, 1861. 



and arms, but this I could not do, for I was part and parcel, as 

 it were, of the solid material in which I was buried. I had no 

 doubt but that my last hour was near at hand. 



" I now heard a human voice ; it was that of my poor friend 

 Za valla, beseeching assistance. He had followed me, and 

 had participated in my fate; but he was in a much more 

 lamentable position. I did my best to cry out to him not to 

 waste his breath, except when he heard any one walking 

 above him, and then to make all possible offers to any one who 

 would assist to extricate him from his living tomb. He re- 

 plied to me ; and then I heard him at intervals utter uncon- 

 nected words, then inarticulate sounds, by which I supposed he 

 must be in the agonies of death, and then followed an eternal 

 silence, as far as my poor friend Zavalla was concerned. 



" My reflections now became painful indeed. Subterranean 

 noises were heard, and shakings of the earth were felt. I at 

 times supposed the spot in which I was buried would sink' 

 into an abyss, or that the crater of a volcano would burst out 

 there. I knew that in such like earthquakes destructive fires 

 were known to break out, and that there might be one near to me; 

 that the great acequia, or watercourse, in the public promenade 

 might be obstructed by ruins, its waters would run over, and so 

 get amongst and under the ruins, in which case I should be 

 drowned within my sepulchre. Admitting that nothing of this 

 occurred, to whom was I to look for help ? My friends in 

 Mendoza were few, and some of them, like myself, were doubt- 

 less in a similar position ; others would have themselves and 

 families to look after ; then, in such circumstances would people 

 think of their friends before their relatives ? if they did, how 

 were they to divine where I was ? If people were looking for 

 me, how was I to make my position known ? for although my 

 friend Zavalla had heard my voice, and I had heard his, this 

 was no proof that I should be heard through the now increased 

 mass of ruins that covered me. It seemed that my salvation 

 in this life was impossible, and I resigned myself to the de- 

 crees of Providence. Then I wished that tho waters would 

 conio and drown mo, so as to shorten the period of my misery; 

 ami I even recollected to have read that miserable slaves had 

 abridged their lives by swallowing their own tongues, and 

 was decided upon attempting it if I found fire or water ap- 

 proach me, aa this was the only moans at my disposal. 



"Although it was afterwards discovered that! had a broken 

 bone, and many wounds, I did not suffer any bodily pain, ex- 

 cepting from the weight of stuff above me, heat, and insufficient 

 respiration. I was indeed very sad, but not dejected, and 1 

 prepared myself to separate from life without becoming des- 

 perate. The thought that made me most miserable was the 



