270 
WEST INDIES AND SOUTH AMERICA 
I may here remark that on mature reflection I came to the 
conclusion that I had not been pushed from behind, but had been 
thrown down by the final effort of the shock, which it was generally 
agreed combined an upward thrust with a rotatory movement. Un¬ 
fortunately I did not hear the Archbishop’s celebrated speech: 
“ Now, gentlemen, let us keep our seats ”—a remark which appeared 
unkind to Mr. Pearson who had been thrown out of his. 
The museum is perhaps half a mile from the Mico building, and 
it was quickly evident that the shock had been far more severe than 
my first impression led me to believe. There were ruins on every 
side ; in places masses of fallen brickwork had to be clambered over. 
Everywhere panic-stricken blacks were making for the country as 
fast as their legs could carry them; they screamed and called loudly 
on each Person of the Trinity in turn: it was as if all the inmates 
of a large lunatic asylum had been turned into the streets. 
Hurrying on as quickly as the obstacles would permit, I was 
soon relieved to see my wife unharmed standing in the street 
surrounded with fallen buildings. She described her experiences in 
these words :— 
“ I was in the museum, and, having seen the objects on the 
ground floor, started to go upstairs. The staircase was built against 
the outer wall in which there was a window overlooking the street, 
and as I passed this window the brilliance of the sunshine especially 
struck me. Suddenly there seemed to be a terrific blow upwards 
from beneath my feet, accompanied by an awful noise and shaking. 
I at once realized that it was an earthquake, and a bad one. 
Turning round immediately, I ran down the stairs and out of the 
front door. To my horror it had become suddenly dark, for the air 
was filled with the dust of falling buildings so that I could but 
dimly see my way. The air was full of falling things, and the 
fore-court wall to my right hand swayed like reeds in the wind. I 
found the gate with difficulty, and descending two or three steps 
made my way into the middle of the street. Though my hat was 
covered with dust not a fragment of brick had touched me! When the 
air cleared somewhat a man called out to me: “ You had better get 
out of those wires.” Looking down I found there were broken and 
twisted electric wires round me. Some of the houses opposite had 
collapsed entirely, others were more or less wrecked. A woman 
whose head and shoulders appeared out of a heap of ruins could not 
release herself; in vain I called to one black after another to help 
her; in one case I offered to hold a man’s horse while he did so, but 
in vain. At last a white man appeared and at once set her free.” 
