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152 ON THE REVOLUTIONS 



Mr Mitchell says, Philosophical Transactions, vol. li. 

 p. 566. 611. speaking of the earthquake at Lisbon in 1755, 

 " the bar (at the mouth of the Tagus) was seen dry 

 " from shore to shore, then suddenly the sea, like a 

 " mountain, came rolling in. This phenomenon accom- 

 panied the same earthquake at the island of Madeira, 

 where we are told, that at the city of Funchal, the 

 sea, which was quite calm, was observed to retire sud- 

 " denly some paces, then rising with a great swell, without the 

 tf least noise, and as suddenly advancing, entered the city *." 

 He further states, in the same page, that " in the northern 

 " part of the island the inundation was more violent, the sea 

 " retiring there above one hundred paces at first, and sudden- 

 w ly returning, overflowed the shore, forcing open doors," &c. 

 Again, in page 466. he says, " The great earthquake that de- 

 " stroyed Lima and Callao in 1746, seems also to have come 

 " from the sea ; for several of the ports on the coast were 

 overwhelmed by a great wave, which did not arrive till four 

 or five minutes after the earthquake began, and which was 

 " preceded by a retreat of the waters, as well as that at Lis- 

 « bon." 



Looking into the original account of these calamities in Don 

 Antonio de Ulloa's Travels into South America, French 

 edition, vol. i. p. 467. I find that he mentions two events of 

 this sort, which took place at Callao; one in 1687, in which 

 the sea first retreated, and then returned with such force as to 

 overwhelm Callao and other places. And again in 1746, when, 

 in the course of twenty-four hours, two hundred shocks were 

 felt : on this occasion, the sea retiring as it had done formerly, 

 on similar occasions, returned furiously, and overwhelmed Cal- 

 lao 



* Philosophical Transactions, vol. xnx. p. 433. The retreat is here said to 

 have begun an hour and a half after the shock. 



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