EARTHQUAKE. 
of the body, accompanied by a deep hol- 
low sound, indescribable, yet resembling 
distant thunder, combined witli the roar of 
numerous cannons. The most violent and 
dangerous shocks are undtdatory, horizontal, 
and perpendicular, the two latter are most 
dreadful in their consequences, by throwing 
down the strongest edifices, and making 
those horrible chasms which engulph every 
object within tfieir boundaries, emit pes- 
tilential vapour, heated water, sand, smoke, 
and flames ; each particular shock seldom 
exceeds a minute in duration, but they of- 
ten follow one another with great rapidity. 
Such are the indications aud peculiarities 
attending earthquakes ; the following short 
narratives of their consequences, m different 
places, will enable the reader who has hap- 
pily escaped feeling to justly understand 
them. 
“ There is no part of the world perhaps 
so subject to earthquakes as Peru ; nor any 
part of Peru more liable to them than Lima 
and its neighbourhood. On Monday, Oc- 
tober 20, 1687, N. S. at 4 o’clock in the 
morning, there arrived a most horrible 
earthquake, which threw down some houses, 
and buried several persons under their 
ruins. An hour after there was another 
shake, accompanied with the same noise ; 
and at six o’clock, when they thought they 
had been all in safety, came a third shock, 
with great fury and a rushing noise ; the 
sea, with hideous roaring, swelled beyond 
its bounds ; the bells rang of themselves ; 
and the destniction was so great that no 
building was left standing. The noise was 
so dreadful, says P. Alvarez de Toledo, 
(who sent the account from thence) that 
those in the fields assure us the cattle were 
in great astonishment : he adds, Callao, 
Canete, Pisco, Chaucay, and Los Chorillos, 
are all ruined : above 5000 dead bodies are 
already found, and they find more daily.” 
Lima was destroyed in the night of Oc- 
tober 28, 1746, the anniversary of St. Simon 
and St. Jude. “ According to the best 
regulated clocks and watches, this fatal ca- 
tastrophe befel the place thirty minutes after 
ten at night ; on this occasion the destruc- 
tion did not so much as give time for fright, 
for at one and tlie same instant almost, the 
noise, the shock, and the ruin were per- 
ceived together ; so that in the space only 
of four minutes, during which the greatest 
force of the earthquake lasted, some per- 
sons were buried under the njins of the 
falling houses ; and others crushed to death 
in the streets by the tumbling of the walls, 
VOL. II. 
which, as they ran here and there, fell upon 
them. The earth struck against the edifices 
with such violent percussions, that every 
shock beat down the greater part of them ; 
and these tearing along with them vast 
weights in their fall (especially the churches 
and high houses), completed the destruc- 
tion of every thing they encountered with, 
even of what the earthquake had spared. 
The shocks, although instantaneous, were 
yet successive ; and at intervals men were 
transported from one place to another, 
which was the means of safety to some, 
whilst the utter impossibility of moving 
preserved others.” 
The second edition of Mr. Swinburne’s 
Travels in the Two Sicilies contains the 
ensuing most affecting letter, written by a 
person w’ho witnessed the scenes he de- 
scribed. 
“ On the 5th of February, at 19 hours and 
3 quarters, we felt a shock that began by 
an upward heaving motion, which gave the 
alarm, and time to most persons to run out 
of their houses ; some fled to the windows 
and balconies 5 others took re^ige under 
the arches of the doors. This upright mo- 
tion of the earth was soon succeeded by 
shaking and rocking, during which we be- 
held our houses tumbling on all sides. The 
walls and towers of the castle 'were split 
asunder, and overturned upon the town ; 
the buildings below were crushed to atoms, 
and 150 persons perished in this fall. At 
night a considerable part of the inhabitants, 
chiefly of the class of sailors, followed the 
example of the prince, and repaired to the 
beach j they there pitched tents, or lav 
down in their barks, hoping to pass the 
night in perfect security at a distance from 
all buildings. The sky was bright and se- 
rene, the sea lulled in a profound calm, and 
all these poor people were indulging in sweet 
sleep a short respite from their woes. In 
this treacherous state of things, a little after 
midnight the whole promontory of Campala 
fell at once into the sea, without any pre- 
vious earthquake. The sea fled back be- 
fore this mass towards the Golilla del Faro, 
where it carried off 28 persons with their 
boats and houses ; then returning with re- 
doubled fury across its natural channel, 
flowed on the shore of Scylla 30 palms 
above its usual level, and three miles along 
the coast. As it fell back again, it sw'ept 
away into the abyss 2,475 persons, who 
were lying on the sands or in boats. Hoir 
rible were the shrieks of the survivors, who 
happened to be above the reach of the 
Rr 
