EARTHaUAKE AT COPIAPO. 



43 



heard I stopped playing, and you called out to 

 me to look what o'clock it was ; I took out my 

 watch, and told you it was past four P**' Upon 

 another occasion, our host said, I was just go- 

 ing to look what the hour was, at which one of 

 those sounds was first heard, when my attention 

 was diverted from the watch by a hideous scream 

 of terror from a person near me. He was such a 

 little insignificant wretch, that I had not conceiv- 

 ed so loud a yell could possibly have come from 

 his puny body ; and so we all forgot the shock in 

 quizzing this little manikin,'' (hombrecito.) Ne- 

 vertheless," added he, gravely, " although I am 

 not a man to cry out and play the fool on such 

 occasions, yet I do fairly own that these earth- 

 quakes are very awful ; and, indeed, must be felt, 

 to be understood in their true extent. Before 

 we hear the sound, or, at least, are fully conscious 

 of hearing it, we are made sensible, I do not well 

 know how, that something uncommon is going to 

 happen : everything seems to change colour ; our 

 thoughts are chained immoveably down ; the 

 whole world appears to be in disorder ; all nature 

 looks different from what it was wont to do ; we 



