162 MORAL EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE. 
thousands of bodies half buried in the ruins, com- 
Missioners were appointed to burn them. Funeral- 
_ piles were erected among the heaps of rubbish. 
-~This ceremony lasted several days. Amid so many 
public calamities, the people ardently engaged in 
the religious exercises which they thought best 
oo adapted to appease the anger of heaven. Some 
walked in bodies chanting funeral-hymns, while 
others, in a state of distraction, confessed themselves 
aloud in the streets. In this city was now repeated 
what had taken place in the province of Quito af- 
ter the dreadful earthquake of the 4th February 
1797. Marriages were contracted between persons 
who for many years had neglected to sanction their 
union by the sacerdotal blessing. Children found 
parents in persons who had till then disavowed 
them ; restitution was promised by individuals who 
had never been accused of theft ; and families, who 
had long been at enmity, drew together from the 
feeling of a common evil. But while in some this 
feeling seemed to soften the heart and open it to 
compassion, it had a contrary effect on others, ren- 
dering them more obdurate and inhumane. In great 
calamities vulgar minds retain still less goodness than 
strength ; for misfortune acts like the pursuit of lite- 
rature and the investigation of nature, which exer- 
cise their happy influence only upon a few, giving 
more warmth to the feelings, more elevation to the 
mind, and more benevolence to the character. 
“ Shocks so violent as these, which in the space 
of one minute overthrew the city of Caraccas, could. 
not be confined to a small portion of the continent. 
Their fatal effects extended to the provinces of Vene- 
zuela, Varinas, and Maracaybo, along the coast, 
