SILVER MINE. 



29 



pointed out by the lines of rubbish. It is a re- 

 markable circumstance, that an extensive district 

 of the town called the Chimba, which, I believe, 

 means suburb, had suffered comparatively no- 

 thing, though not a mile and a half from this 

 scene of devastation. Some of the houses at the 

 outskirts of the town were also still standing ; 

 which led us to conclude that the shock had been 

 limited in its operation, by a line of no great 

 breadth. Possibly there may have been a vast 

 rent, or rather a crack in the earth ; and the 

 ground on one side of it may have been put into 

 violent motion, while that on the other side was 

 not within reach of the same disturbing cause. 



Our road, which lay along the bottom of a ra- 

 vine, soon carried us out of the valley, and no- 

 thing was now to be seen but the vast sea of sandy 

 mountains composing the country. On reaching 

 the summit of the pass, we had the satisfaction to 

 find ourselves on a spot which commanded a free 

 view on both sides to a great distance ; but the 

 ground, in every direction, was utterly desert. 

 Our guide took us first across a sandy plain, and 

 then along the sharp ridges of several hills, till 



