1832.] 
EARTHQUAKE 
455 
On this night, the twenty-eighth, at about eleven o'clock, the 
greater portion of the inhabitants of Lima were again thrown 
into commotion, by the repetition of the news that the sea was 
bm'sting again from its boundaries ! It is certain that so heavy 
was the sound of the waves, as they lashed the shore, it might 
well have been apprehended as an inundation and overflowing of 
the sea ! 
Unfortunate Lima ! The elements seemed leagued for her de- 
struction ! — for at twelve o'clock, while the flight, confusion, and 
consternation still reigned, the windows of the clouds were thrown 
open, and the rain descended in such torrents, for the space of a 
quarter of an hour, that, had it continued, it must have completed 
the destruction already but too far advanced by the feverish throes 
of the earth. At four o'clock in the afternoon, on the thirtieth, the 
earth shook. On the same night, from seven o'clock to forty-five 
minutes past nine, a light rain fell, of a quality so rare that it acted 
as a caustic on every thing sensitive which it touched ! — burning up 
the green pastures like a consuming fire, and causing among the in- 
habitants sickness and disease. At twelve o'clock at night the wind 
blew strong from the north ; and increased with such violence, that 
it seemed as if it would bear off houses and mortals in its fierce em- 
brace ! This effect, and the bad qualities which impregnated the 
air, arose from the infection of vapours issuing from the pores of 
the earth ! On the second of December, at three in the afternoon, 
from the Dominican church moved a large procession, with the 
image of Rosario a,nd Santo Rosa 'Peruana; all of which were 
borne by the venerable community of religionists, and by a great 
many penitents of both sexes ; and following these the greater part 
of the ladies of Lima, singing in voices so plaintive, so touching, 
and so sweet, that it appeared like a holy emulation among this illus- 
trious band. Some with hair cut, feet bare, and besprinkled with 
ashes, who, in other times, might have been seen decked with 
much splendour in the magnificence of their equipage, were now 
dressed in coarse woollens, and in the public streets, to be seen 
asking pardon for their transgressions ; and, in fervent prayer, im- 
ploring Heaven to spare their devoted city ! 
On the sixth, the earth treinbled at four o'clock in the morning, 
when it began to rain, and continued until six ; which produced a 
general catarrh and coughs, and, moreover, innumerable quantities 
