C 89 ) 
As to what I writ concerning the River and Town, I 
did not fee my feif ; but heard by feveral hands, that it 
wa^ eight or nine dviys before the River came down (o 
far as the Town. 
N^. VIII. 
Port' Royal in Jamaica^ July 3. i^pj. 
T He Year 1691. began in Jamaica with very dry 
and hot Weatiier, which continued rill May^ 
when there was very blowing Weather, and muchPtsin 
to the end of the Month, from which time, till the time 
the Earthquake happened, 'cwas exceuive hot, calm and 
dry ; and on TuefJay the 7th of June, about 40 Mi- 
nutes paft Eleven in the Forenoon, it being tlieo a very 
hot, clear, Sun-iliine Day, fcarce a Cloud to be feen m 
the Sky, or a Breath of Air to be felt, hapned that great 
Shake, fo fatal to this place, and to the whole uTand, 
which for its Violence and ftrange Effedls, may per- 
haps be compared with the greateft, that ever yet hap- 
pened in the World, and may as well deferve the Me- 
mory of future Ages. 
It begin with a fmall trembling, fo as to make Peo- 
ple think there was an Earthquake, which Thoughts 
were immediately confirm'd by a fecond Shake fome- 
^thing ftronger, accompanied all the while with a hollow 
rumbling Noife, aimoft like that of Thunder, which 
made them begin to run out of their Houfes. But alas! 
•this was but ihort Warning for them to provide for their 
Safety ; for at the Heels of this Second, came the Third 
violent Shake, which in lefs than a Minute's time (it 
continuing near a Minute) fhook the very Foundation 
of Port' Royal in^Mch fort, that at leaft two parts in three,! 
believe I may fafely fay three parts in four,of the Houfes, 
and the Ground whereon they flood, and mod part of 
thofe who inhabited them, all funk at once quite under 
Water,; and on the place which was left, and is now 
O Handings 
