1832.] 
EARTHQUAKES, 
449 
overturned by an earthquake, or their vineyards are overwhelmed 
by lava, showers of stone, or volcanic ashes, they return to the 
very spot, rebuild their fallen houses, and cultivate the new vol- 
canic soil, which in time repays their labour by an abundant har- 
vest or vintage. 
So in Lima, earthquakes are of such frequent occurrence, that 
the ordinary ones excite alarm but for the moment among the in- 
habitants. There have been, however, commotions of such vio- 
lence as to overturn extensive districts, and to destroy whole 
cities, burying their inhabitants in their ruins. In the course of 
one hundred and twelve days, the city of Lima experienced no 
less than four hundred and thirty earthquakes. 
The history of that event, and the sufferings of the people, are 
recorded by Father Eusebio, who was not only an eyewitness 
' of the scene, but a sufferer in the catastrophe. We may readily 
, excuse Eusebio for giving free vent to his feelings, in descri- 
■ bing such a mournful spectacle, as the horror of the tragedy must 
have unfitted him for critical observations on the natural phenom- 
ena of such an event, and fixed his attention chiefly on human 
suffering. Notwithstanding the lapse of almost a century, the 
account of Eusebio contains a freshness and interest which we 
do not remember ever to have seen given in any account of this 
wonderful event ; and such portions as our limits will permit, 
cannot fail of being highly interesting to our readers. 
It was on the night of the twenty-eighth October, in the 
year seventeen hundred and forty-six, while the churches in 
Lima were celebrating, with great pomp and holy zeal, the fes- 
tivity of those two apostolic saints, Simon and Judas (not Is- 
cariot) — a night when the moon seemed blending only benevo- 
lence and loveliness in the brightness of her beams- — it was on 
such a night, and on such an occasion, that the dreadful tragedy 
occurred alluded to above. Beneath that beauty and brightness 
were concealed deception and ruin ! The heavens were serene, 
the ocean was tranquil, and the earth slept in quiet; — but it 
was the awful stillness which precedes the earthquake's birth. 
It was at half past ten at night, five hours and forty-five min- 
utes before the full moon ; when a sudden and terrible concussion 
of the earth took place, as if the subterranean caverns were bro- 
-ken up, and the elements of water, and fire, and air, were bursting 
Ff 
