52 



CHILI. 



had been produced by an earthquake, so severe, 

 that the people had been afraid of the houses 

 tumbling about their ears, and had run into the 

 open street to avoid the danger : for my part, I 

 was totally unconscious of any motion, nor did I 

 hear the sound, which they described as unusual- 

 ly loud. 



On mentioning this fact afterwards in company, 

 I was assured, that for a considerable period after 

 the arrival of foreigners, they are in like manner 

 insensible to shocks, which a native can at once 

 distinguish. It may be mentioned also, as an un- 

 usual effect of experience, that the sensation of 

 alarm, caused by feeling an earthquake, unlike 

 that caused by other kinds of danger, goes on 

 augmenting instead of diminishing in amount ; 

 and that one who at first ridicules the terrors of 

 the inhabitants, comes eventually to be even more 

 frightened than they are. 



19th of Jan. — An officer of the American fri- 

 gate Macedonia having died at Valparaiso, and 

 there being no ship of war of that nation in port 

 to pay the accustomed honours to his remains, I 

 conceived it right to supply the place of his ab- 



