454 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[December, 
No las ruinas, el seno si profundo 
De la Tierra se amaga horror postrero ; 
Pues rompiendose en abras, podra creerse ; 
Que ya hasta el mismo suelo va a caerse." 
On the second of the month, the first news from the surround- 
ing country was received in Lima, from which it would appear, 
that in some places the sound was not heard ; in others, the shock 
but lightly felt ; and others again suffered a total ruin, in common 
with the capital. From the twenty-eighth of October, at half 
past ten at night, until the first of November, the earth shook two 
hundred and twenty times ; and from the first to the tenth, there 
were no less than forty-six more distinct movements ! 
But notwithstanding this almost incessant motion or trembling 
of the earth beneath the city, the minds of men had gradually as- 
sumed more composure; for though the danger was not less, it 
had become in a degree familiar to the people. The Cahildo, or 
City Council, resumed its meetings, and began to take the most 
active measures for the restoration of order, and for repairing the 
damages done to the city. The hydrographer to the vice-king 
was called on to give his plans and opinions as to the rebuilding 
of the edifices of the city ; and the report of the engineer was 
highly extolled. He maintained that the country would not per- 
mit the erection of elevated or heavy buildings ; that the tem- 
ples, and palaces, and tribunals of justice, should be built . with, 
strict reference to the trials they might have to encounter ; that 
balconies, galleries, arches, and towers, should be discontinued, 
as altogether unadapted to the country. 
We know not if it were then recommended for the first time, 
but certainly it has now gained general use : the dwelling-houses 
in a great measure are more insulated from each other, with an 
open square in the centre, as a place of retreat and security to the 
inhabitants from the falling of the materials around them. 
From the tenth to the twenty-eighth, no less than seventy-four 
distinct shocks were felt, some being very heavy, and others quite 
light. Including the first days of the month, this calculation gives 
one hxmdred and twelve distinct vibrations, happening at intervals 
more or less distant from each other ! How wonderful — how in- 
exhaustibly great must be the combustible materials confined in 
the deep caverns beneath this country ! 
