184/.] On the UtefinUge of understandard Silver. 557 



to Her Majesty. These people relate that on the evening preceding 

 the hurricane they felt great and frequent tremblings of the earth, — 

 that at nightfall they began to hear in the midst of it a frightful noise 

 which impelled them to abandon their abode, and fly, full of fear, to a 

 creek for shelter from the fury of the tempest which was increasing : — 

 on the ceasing of the storm, on the morning of the 8th, they returned 

 to their dwelling, when they found that it and the hill on which it 

 stood had sunk, — there appearing in its place a large lake of black 

 water, of a fetid odour, and smoking. In Pamplona the Churches 

 and Tribunal were destroyed, as well as the rest of the houses, with the 

 exception of the Church of the division of Masi, which being of very 

 solid construction, escaped with trifling injury; 5 persons were killed. 

 At the entrance of the river of this village there was a hill sixty feet high 

 separating the sea from the river, which having disappeared, the two 

 waters are now joined and a wide and practicable passage opened. Five 

 victims are reported. Within the boundaries of all these districts 

 nature presents a most sombre picture, not a single green tree is to be 

 seen, the thickest trunks alone remaining, and these as if only left at 

 last to show that vegetation had ceased ; which is no doubt owing to 

 the great quantity of electricity with which the atmosphere was charged 

 during the hurricane.'* 



(To be continued.) 



On the Refinage, on a large scale, by means of Nitre, of brittle or 

 understandard Silver, for coinage purposes ; and on a ready mode 

 of approximative assaying of silver, by W. B. O'Shaughnessy, 

 M. 1). and F. R. S., Co-Secy. Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



Although the subject of the refinage of silver for coinage purposes 

 may appear of too special and technical a character to warrant my 

 affording to it any portion of the pages of this Journal, it still presents 

 some collateral points of general interest. It affords an opportunity 

 too of conveying in a simple and intelligible form a few observations 

 regarding our silver standard and the approximative testing of silver 

 coin and bullion, which may prove useful to some of the readers of this 

 Journal who have to manage bullion transactions with native states. 



