EARTHaUAKE AT COPIAPO. 41 



ly crossed the threshold, when a shock came wliich 

 in a moment shook down the roof and one end of 

 the church, leaving it in the state already describ- 

 ed. Had not the people been thus judiciously 

 detained in the open air, almost the whole popu- 

 lation of Copiapd must have perished. 



After the fall of La Merced, the inhabitants 

 fled to the neighbouring hills, leaving only one 

 or two fool-hardy people who chose to remain. 

 Amongst these was a German who, as he told me 

 himself, divided his time in the Plaza between 

 taking notes of the various passing phenomena, 

 and drinking aguardiente, the spirits of the coun- 

 try. Slight shocks occasionally succeeded that 

 on the 4th, but it was not till the 11th of April, 

 seven days after the fall of the Merced, that the 

 formidable one occurred which, in an instant, laid 

 the whole town in ruins. It was accompanied by 

 a subterranean sound, which, though at first of a 

 low tone, gradually swelled to a clear dreadful 

 loudness, of which no one, I observed, even at 

 this distance of time, could speak without an in- 

 voluntary shudder. 



After the first great shock, which levelled the 



