366 
NORTHERN CHILE 
CHAP. 
patches ; the grass being sparingly scattered in hair-like fibres a 
full inch in length. Before this shower every part of the surface 
was bare as on a high-road. 
In the evening Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining 
with Mr. Edwards, an English resident well known for his 
hospitality by all who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp 
earthquake happened. I heard the forecoming rumble, but from 
the screams of the ladies, the running of the servants, and the 
rush of several of the gentlemen to the doorway, I could not 
COQUIMBO, CHILE. 
distinguish the motion. Some of the women afterwards were 
crying with terror, and one gentleman said he should not be able 
to sleep all night, or if he did, it would only be to dream of 
falling houses. The father of this person had lately lost all his 
property at Talcahuano, and he himself had only just escaped a 
falling roof at Valparaiso in 1.822. He mentioned a curious 
coincidence which then happened : he was playing at cards, when 
a German, one of the party, got up, and said he would never sit 
in a room in these countries with the door shut, as, owing to his 
having done so, he had nearly lost his life at Copiapo. Accord- 
