404 



DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. 



Feb. 



had been raised by falling buildings, began to disperse ; 

 people breathed more freely, and dared to look around them. 

 Ghastly and sepulchral was the sight. Had the graves opened 

 and given up their dead, their appearance could scarcely have 

 been more shocking. Pale and trembling, covered with dust and 

 perspiration, they ran from place to place, calling for relations 

 and friends ; and many seemed to be quite bereft of reason. 



Considerable shocks continued to harass and alarm at short 

 intervals. The earth was never long quiet during that or 

 the next day, nor indeed for the three days following the 

 great shock; and during many hours after the ruin, it was 

 tremulous, and the shocks were very frequent, though not 

 severe. Many of these, but not all, were preceded by a rumbling, 

 subterranean noise, like distant thunder. Some compared the 

 sound to the distant discharge of many pieces of artillery. 

 These noises came from the south-west quarter, and preceded 

 the shock by one or two seconds ; sometimes, but not often, 

 the sound was unaccompanied by any shock. 



It was the general opinion that the motion was from south- 

 west to north-east. Some whole walls, whose direction was 

 south-east and north-west, were laid flat, the bricks still main- 

 taining their relative position, though end- wise, without being 

 scattered upon the ground. These walls fell, without excep- 

 tion, to the north-east.* Others were scattered as they fell; 

 but still the greatest masses of brick- work were thrown towards 

 the north-east. Walls standing in the opposite direction, north- 

 east and south-west, suffered far less : none fell bodily or in 

 masses ; fragments were shaken or torn off ; and some of the 

 walls were very much cracked,-[- but others suffered little. 

 Houses built of ' adobes,' J became confused heaps, and roofs fell 

 in every where. The cathedral, whose walls were four feet in 

 thickness, supported by great buttresses, and built of good 

 brick and mortar, § suffered more than other buildings. Ad- 



* The streets of Concepcion lie north-east and south-west : north- 

 west and south-east. 



t Vertically, as if by the undulator}'' movement of the earth's surface in 

 the direction of their length. X Large unbaked bricks. 



§ Both bricks and mortar were excellent. 



