the gold which it contained." It does not appear, however, what success attended his operations. It was from the southern side that, in the year 1834, Baron Gros, secretary to the French legation at Mexico, M. de Gerolt, Consul-general for Prussia, and Mr. Egerton, an English artist, commenced their arduous duty of ascending Popocatapetl. The expedition started, says Baron Gros, at seven o'clock in the morning : At three, we had arrived at the limits of vegetation, which we reached by almost beaten tracks, having had occasion to use our axes in one place only. To any one acquainted with the Alps, I need not say one word of those stupendous forests of oak, or fir, and of larch, which must be traversed; they are alike in both hemispheres, save at the foot of this mountain are to be found numerous flocks of guacamaias, large green parrots with green heads. There are also in the forests a small species of lion, jaguars, wolves, stags. roes, and a great quantity of wild cats; but we did not see a single one of all these animals. In proportion as we ascended into the wood, the firs became less frequent and of smaller size. Near the sands they are all more or less stunted; and all their branches bend down to earth as if they sought lower down air less From the moment the wood is left behind, nothing is to be seen up to the third part of the volcanic cone, but an immense extent of violetcolored sand, so fine in some places that the wind ruffles the surface of it with the perfect regularity of a ripple on the waters. Blocks of red porphyry are scattered up and down, and break the monotony of the spectacle. The top of the undulations formed by the sand is covered over by an immense quantity of little yellowish pumice-stones, which the winds appear to have gathered there in heaps; and along these sands rarefied. *** run in furrows, till they are lost in the forest, some scoriæ of volcanic rocks descending from the masses of porphyry and black lava which form the top of the mountain. The most elevated part of the volcano is entirely covered with snow, and this snow seems the more purely white that the horizon along which it lies is of a blue so deep as almost to be black. this abyss are emitted, whirling round with the force of a whirlwind, masses of white exhalations, which disperse when they attain half the height of the inside of the crater. Some apertures in the declivity of the funnel project these also, as do likewise seven large fissures which are between the strata forming the edge of the crater; but these last vapors do not rise higher than fifteen or twenty feet. The apertures *** at bottom are circular and surrounded by a large zone of pure sulphur. *** The disengagement of the sulphurous gas is so considerable that we were greatly incommoded by it at the top of the volcano. The outward edge of the crater is entirely devoid of snow, but in the inside where the sun has no power, a considerable number of stalactites of ice are found hanging down to where the third stratum begins. The summit of the volcano is a small platform of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, where the same violet-colored sand is found, which is in such abundance at the base of the cone, and the heat of which is sensible to the touch. The island of Hawaii, or Owyhee, is the largest of the Sandwich Islands; it is of an irregular shape, being about one hundred miles long from north to south, and eighty miles wide in the broadest part. The interior of the island consists of a tableland 8000 feet above the level of the sea, on the edges of which are situated the three volcanic mountains of Mauna Kea on the east, Mauna Loa at the south-western corner, and Mauna Hualalai on the western side, the two last being still active. The ever active volcanic crater of Kilanea occu pies a shoulder, or terrace, on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa was ascended, in December, 1840, by a party belonging to the United States Exploring Expedition, and it is from the narrative of that expedition that the following notice is taken. The height of this mountain is given by them as 13,760 feet. After considerable labor the platform on which Kilanea is situated, at a height of about 4000 feet above the sea, was attained. At this point Mauna Loa rose up in all its proportions. The whole dome appeared of a bronze color, and its uninterrupted smooth outline was relieved against the deep blue of a tropical sky. Masses of clouds were The baron and his party passed the night on the borders of the forest, setting off again at three o'clock on the following morning. The usual sensations experienced by persons who ascend to great elevations are recorded by Baron Gros. He also adds:- floating around it, throwing their shadows distinctly "It was necessary to cry very loud in order to be on its sides, to which they gave occasional relief and heard at a distance of twenty paces. Indeed, the air at that height was so rarefied, that I tried in vain to whistle, and Mr. Egerton had the greatest difficulty in extracting any sounds from a horn he had brought with him." At three o'clock, the baron and his two companions had reached the summit of the volcano, which proved to be the brink of the crater : The crater (says Baron Gros) is an immense gulf, almost circular, having a deep depression on the north side, and some spiracles on the south. It might be about a league in circumference, and nine hundred or a thousand feet in perpendicular depth. The walls of the gulf were peaked. They distinctly present three large horizontal strata, intersected perpendicularly and almost at equal distances by black and grayish lines. The bottom is a funnel, formed by successive convulsions, still occurring almost daily. The inside edge, from the surface to about fifteen or twenty feet lower, is a mass of red, black, or whitish, very thin strata, upon which rest the blocks of volcanic rocks variety. There was a bluish haze resting on the plain, that apparently gave it great distance, though this was partially counteracted by the distinctiveness of the dome. The party now approached the crater of Kilanea. Vapor issuing from numerous cracks showed that we were passing over ground beneath which fire was raging. The rushing of the wind past us was as if it were drawn inwards to support the combustion of some mighty conflagration. When the edge is reached, the extent of the cavity becomes apparent, and its depth became sensible by comparison with the figures of some of our party who had already descended. The vastness thus made sensible transfixes the mind with astonishment, and every instant the impression of grandeur and magnitude increases. To give an idea of its capacity, the city of New York might be placed within it, and when at its bottom would be hardly noticed; for it is three and a half miles long, two and a half wide, and over a thousand feet deep. A black ledge surrounds it at the depth of 660 feet, and thence yet destined to fall into the crater. Its walls are to the bottom is 384 feet. The bottom looks, in the yellowish, and present at first glance the appearance day time, like a heap of smouldering ruins. The of a limestone quarry. The bottom and the inclined descent to the ledge appears to the sight a short and plane of the funnel are covered with an immense easy task, but it takes an hour to accomplish. quantity of blocks of sulphur, perfectly pure. From All usual ideas of volcanic craters are dissipated upon seeing this. There is no elevated cone, no igneous | succeeded in reaching the floor of the crater by this matter, or rocks ejected beyond the rim. The banks ap- means. pear as if built of massive blocks, which are in places clothed with ferns, nourished by the issuing vapors. What is wonderful in the day becomes ten times more so by night. The immense pool of cherry-red liquid lava, in a state of violent ebullition, illuminates the whole expanse, and flows in all directions like water, while an illuminated cloud hangs over it like a vast *** canopy. The crater contains two lakes of liquid lava, the larger of which is estimated at 1500 feet long, and 1000 wide. At a height of 500 feet above the larger lake the light was so strong that the smallest print could be read. I was struck (says the narrator) with the absence of any noise, except a low murmuring, like that which is heard from the boiling of a thick liquid. The ebullition was (as is the case where the heat is applied to Like the black ledge, it was not found to have the level and even surface it had appeared from above to possess; hillocks and ridges, from twenty to thirty feet high, ran across it, and were in some places so perpendicular as to render it difficult to pass over them. The distance they traversed below was deceptive, and they had no means of ascertaining it but by the time it took to walk it, which was upwards of two hours from the north extreme of the bottom to the margin of the large lake. It is extremely difficult to reach this lake on account of its overflowing at short intervals, which does not afford the fluid mass time to cool. The nearest approach that any one of the party made to it at this time was about fifteen hundred or two thousand feet; they were then near enough to burn their shoes and light their sticks in the lava, which had overflowed during the preceding night. The smaller lake was well viewed from a slight emi one side of a vessel) most violent near the northern nence. This lake was slightly in action; the globules side. The vapor and steam that were constantly (if large masses of red fluid lava, several tons in escaping were so rarefied as not to impede the view, weight, can be so called) were seen heaving up at and only became visible in the bright cloud above us, regular intervals six or eight feet in height; and which seemed to sink and rise alternately. We occa- smaller ones were thrown up to a much greater elevasionally perceived stones, or masses of red-hot matter, tion. At the distance of fifty feet no gases were to be ejected to the height of about seventy feet, and falling seen, nor was any steam evident; yet a thin smoke, back into the lake again. The lake was apparently like vapor, arose from the whole fluid surface: no puffs of smoke were perceived at any time. From time to time the surface of the heated fluid would crack and exhibit a bright red glare. From these cracks streams of lava issued, so as gradually rising, and wanted but a few feet of overflowing its banks. The immense space which I have described the crater as covering, is gradually filled with the fluid mass of lava to a certain point, above which the walls, or the surrounding soil, are no longer able to bear the pressure; it then finds vent by an eruption, to extend the boundaries of the lake, and to drive previous to which, however, a large part that is next the observers from their position. to the walls of the crater has, in a measure, become The exploring party, having satisfied their cooled, and remains fixed at the level it has attained. After the eruption, the central mass therefore alone subsides three or four hundred feet, and leaves the portion that has become solid forming a kind of terrace or shelf; this is what constitutes the "black ledge," and is one of the most striking features of the crater. Its surface is comparatively level, though somewhat uneven, and is generally coated with a vitreous, and in some places a scoriaceous lava, from half an inch to an inch thick, very brittle. * * * The crackling noise made in walking over this crisp surface (like a coating of blue and yellow glass) resembles that made by treading on frozen snow in very cold weather. Here and there are seen dark pits and vaulted caverns with heated air rushing from them. Large and extended cracks are passed over, the air issuing from which, at a temperature of 180°, is almost stifling. Masses are surmounted that it would seem as if the accumulated weight of a few persons would cause to topple over, and plunge into the fiery pool beneath. From many places on the black ledge a bluish smoke was seen issuing, smelling strongly of sulphur, and marked by an efflorescence of a white tasteless powder among the cavities; this it was difficult to detach without scalding the fingers. * * * curiosity at the volcano of Kilanea, proceeded to complete the task of ascending Mauna Loa. This was not accomplished without difficulty. Nothing (says the narrative) can exceed the devastation of the mountain; the whole area of it is one mass of lava, that has at one time been thrown out in a fluid state from its terminal crater. There is no sand or other rock; nothing but lava, on whichever side the eye is turned. To appearance it is of different ages; some of very ancient date, though as yet not decomposed; and the alternations of heat and cold, with rain and snow, seem to have united in vain for its destruction. A fall of snow took place before the summit was reached. The thermometer at the summit stood at 15°. The view from the summit is thus described : In the distance, [towards the north,] the island of Mani emerged from and broke the line of the deep blue horizon, while its lower side was dimmed by a whitish haze, that seemed to unite it to the island of Hawaii. The same haze enveloped the hills of Kohala on our There were many cracks where our sticks were set on right, and the western extremity of Hawaii. Nearer fire, and some places in the vaulted chambers beneath to us was Hualalai, up whose sides a compact mass where the rock might be seen red-hot. The black of white fleecy clouds was impelled by the sea-breeze. ledge is of various widths, from 600 to 2000 feet. It To our right, rose in bold relief Mauna Kea, covered extends all around the cavity, but it is seldom possi- with its snowy mantle; and at our feet was spread ble to pass around that portion of it near the burning out, between the three great mountains, the black lake, not only on account of the stifling fumes, but of the intense heat. In returning from the neighborhood of the lake to the point where we began the ascent, we were one hour and ten minutes of what we considered hard walking, and in another hour we reached the top of the bank. * At the north-west angle of the black ledge there was a descent to the bottom of the crater, where a portion of the ledge had fallen in and afforded an inclined plane to the bottom. Two of the party plain of lava, overhung by a dusky pall of clouds. All these features were so blended into each other by the mist, as to exhibit a tone of harmony that could hardly be conceived, considering the variety of the forms, characters, and distances of the objects, and which seemed to blend earth, sea, and sky into one. The terminal crater is thus described: This crater, or rather craters for there are two separated by a narrow partition of compact lava and clinkers-is an immense depression, with an elevated trim about twenty miles in circumference, which for a long period, without any earthquake occur gradually narrows by successive ledges to the depth ring. When the earthquake originates in the sea, of eight or nine hundred feet. It has been dormant and is thence propagated to the land, the sounds, for many years, but is still filled with fissures and caverns, which emit steam and sulphureous vapors. It took an hour to descend to the bottom of the crater, which was effected (by some of the party only) on the east side, among large blocks of lava. There (says the narrative) they were surrounded by huge clinkers and ridges, running generally north and south in lines across the crater; between these was the pahoihoi, or smooth lava. They passed over these obstructions to the south-west, and found in being propagated through three media of unequal transmissive power, produce a succession of different sounds. The sound travels through the bed of the ocean at the rate of from 7000 to 10,000 feet in a second, and arrives before, or at the same time with the earth-wave, giving rise to hollow sounds; through the ocean the sound travels at the rate of 4700 feet in a second; and through the air, at the rate of 1123 feet in a second. The two last give rise to a succession of rumbling sounds like distant of the ocean places many salts, among which were sulphate of soda thunder, and they precede the arrival and sulphate of lime. Four fifths of the way across was a hill two hundred feet high, composed of scoriæ and pumice, with fissures emitting sulphurous acid gas. To the west was a plain full of cracks and fissures, all emitting more or less steam and gas. They found the west wall perpendicular; its lower strata were composed of a gray basalt. For three fourths of the distance up, it had a dingy yellow color; above this there are a number of thin layers, apparently dipping to the south-west with the slope of the mountain. Many steam-cracks on the north-east side were also visited, from which fumes of sulphurous acid gas were emitted; no hydrogen was found in the gas, which extinguished flame without producing explosion. EARTHQUAKES consist sometimes in slight trem wave. The most extensive district where earthquakes occur is found in the continents of Europe and Asia, and has the Mediterranean as a centre; but they are most violent and frequent in the continent of South America; and it is a singular circumstance that, in that continent, they are bounded to the eastward by the Andean chain. Most of the large towns on the western coast of South America have been destroyed at least once by an earthquake. But perhaps no one place has suffered so much from volcanic agency as the old town of Guatemala, in Central America. The first town of that name was destroyed by a rush of water from the volcano of Agua. In 1542, it was rebuilt; but shortly after, an epidemic, accompanied blings of the earth; at other times the ground undu- by earthquakes, carried off numbers of people. In lates like the sea. Occasionally a sudden upward motion is communicated to it; and, in some instances, a rotatory motion takes place. The two latter are the most destructive forms. The undulations vary in height from one inch to two or three feet. When the height is great, very remarkable effects are produced. During the terrible earthquake by which Calabria was devastated in 1783, large tracts of land were conveyed from their original position to distances of more than half a mile. Humboldt mentions, that, on one occasion, furniture was carried from one place and buried in another, and some persons were thrown across a river to a considerable height up the opposite mountain. During a severe earthquake in the island of Jamaica, in 1692, persons were swallowed up in rents of the earth, and afterwards ejected alive. The same thing took place in Calabria. A rotatory motion is produced where two waves, advancing in a horizontal direction, cross each other. A curious instance of this, which took place in Calabria, is mentioned by Sir C. Lyell. The upper stones of two obelisks in the convent of S. Bruno, in the town of Stefano del Bosco, were turned partially round, while the pedestals remained in their former position. A similar effect was noticed by Mr. Darwin in the cathedral of Concepcion, after the earthquake of 1835. A We have already stated that earthquakes originate most frequently in the bed of the ocean. wave is then generated in the sea as well as the land. But the earth-wave travels faster than the The former commences the destruc ocean-wave. tion on land, which the latter arrives to complete. The ocean-wave created by the earthquake at Lisbon travelled to Barbadoes at the rate of 7.8 miles in a minute, and to Portsmouth at the rate of a little more than two miles in a minute. The speed of the earth-wave depends partly upon the nature of the strata through which it has to pass. Earthquakes are generally preceded by loud rumbling noises. Sometimes such noises are heard 1565, 1575-6-7, disastrous earthquakes occurred. In 1586, the greater part of the town was reduced to ruins. In 1651, considerable damage was done; in 1717, still greater; till, in 1773, the whole town was destroyed. In addition to these misfortunes, serious epidemics occurred from time to time. At last the inhabitants left the place, and founded a town elsewhere. Nevertheless, Mr. Stephens found the old site repeopled in 1839, and spoke to an old priest who had been witness to the last great catastrophe. The town of Concepcion, in Chili, has been thrice destroyed by earthquakes. The first time was in 1730, the second in 1750, and the third on the 20th February, 1835. It happened that H. M. S. Beagle entered Talcuhano (the port of Concepcion) two days after the last occurrence. Very interesting observations were made at the time, by Captain Fitzroy, the commander of the vessel, and by Mr. Darwin who accompanied the vessel during her five years' cruise, and whose Researches in Geology and Natural History during that period are in the hands of all those interested in scientific travels. Before the vessel had reached the port, abundant proof of a disaster of a formidable kind presented itself-" the whole coast," says Mr. Darwin, "being strewed over with timber and furniture, as if a thousand great ships had been wrecked." Mr. Darwin's subsequent impressions are given as follows: Both towns [those of Talcuhano and Concepcion] presented the most awful yet interesting spectacle I ever beheld. To a person who had formerly known the places, it possibly might have been still more impressive; for the ruins were so mingled together,. and the whole scene possessed so little the air of a habitable place, that it was scarcely possible to imagine its former appearance or condition. The earthquake commenced at half-past eleven in the forenoon. In Concepcion each house, or row of houses,. stood by itself a heap or line of ruins; but in Talcu **** hano, owing to the great wave, little more than one layer of bricks, tiles, and timber, with here and there part of a wall left standing, could be distinguished. From this circumstance, Concepcion, although not so completely desolated, was a more terrible, and, if I may so call it, picturesque sight. The first shock was very sudden. The invariable practice among the residents in these provinces, of running out of doors at the first trembling, alone saved them. The mayordomo of Quiriquina told me that the first notice he received of the earthquake, was finding both the horse he rode and himself rolling together on the ground. Rising up, he was again thrown down. He also told me that some cows, which were standing on the steep sides of the island [of Quiriquina], were rolled into the sea. The great wave, however, was far more destructive in this respect: on one low island near the ground is torn up and twisted in an unusual and most disastrous manner. One of the most dreadful earthquakes on record is that which, on the 1st of November, 1755, destroyed the greater part of the city of Lisbon. The only warning the inhabitants received was a noise like subterranean thunder. When the event took place they were assembled in the churches. Six minutes sufficed to destroy sixty thousand persons. On this occasion there appeared to be a great recession of the sea, and of the water of the Tagus in connexion with it; vessels in the river having suddenly found themselves aground. Probably the general impression was incorrect, and the effects were rather due to an upheaval of the bed of the head of the bay seventy animals were washed off and river. Shortly after, the great wave swept in, drowned. After viewing Concepcion, I cannot under- having in this instance an elevation of fifty feet. stand how the greater number of inhabitants escaped To complete the work already begun, numbers unhurt. The houses in many parts fell outwards; perished also, by the subsidence of a quay on which thus forming in the middle of the streets little hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Rous, the English consul, told us that he was at breakfast when the first movement warned him to run out. He had scarcely reached the middle of the courtyard when one side of his house came thundering down. He retained presence of mind to remember that if he once got on the top of that part which had already fallen, he should be safe. Not being able, from the motion of the ground, to stand, he crawled up on his hands and knees; and no sooner had he ascended this little eminence, than the other side of the house fell in, the great beams sweeping close in front of his head. With his eyes blinded and his mouth choked with the cloud of dust which darkened the sky, at last he gained the street. As shock succeeded shock, at the interval of a few minutes, no one dared approach the shattered ruins; and no one knew whether his dearest friends and relations might not be perishing from want of help. The thatched roofs fell over the fires, and flames burst forth in all parts. Hundreds knew themselves to be ruined, and few had the means of providing food for the day. Mr. Darwin thus describes the great wave, which was estimated to have a height of from sixteen to twenty feet : In the middle of the bay it was seen as one unbroken swell of the water; but on each side, meeting with resistance, it curled over, and tore up cottages and trees as it swept onward with overwhelming force. At the head of the bay it is easy to imagine the fearful line of white breakers which three times rushed over and almost obliterated the ruins of the former town. Pools of salt water yet remained in the streets; and children, making boats with old tables and chairs, appeared as happy as their parents were miserable. It is noticed by Dr. Darwin, that the walls which ran in a direction south-west by west, stood the shock much better than those which ran at right angles to them. This observation is interesting : as connected with the direction of the undulatory axis, which is shown, by this and other circumstances, to have been in a north-easterly direction. It has been remarked, on other occasions of earthquakes, that all the pendulums of clocks vibrating in one direction have stopped, while all those moving in an opposite direction have continued in motion. Thus the direction of the motion given to the earth's crust by an earthquake appears to be generally determined. It has been noticed that when an earthquake reaches the junction of less with more compact strata, having first passed over the former, a sort of reaction takes place, and the they had assembled for security. This quay, which had recently been built, vanished below the waters, and nothing was afterwards seen of it or its freight. Numerous small vessels and boats sank at the same time, but, it is said, no fragments of the wrecks appeared again at the surface. The earthquake of Lisbon was felt over an area of 700,000 square miles, or a twelfth part of the circumference of the globe. The West Indian isles on one side were affected by it; the lakes of Scotland, Norway, and Sweden, on the other. To the south it extended at least as far as the island of Madeira, and eastward, it was felt in Italy. A series of convulsions in Calabria, which lasted nearly four years, began in 1783, with an earthquake which is only equalled by that of Lisbon. It did not extend, like the latter, over a great extent of country, but the effects it produced within its limited sphere were even greater. It lasted only two minutes, during which brief space it destroyed all the towns and villages within a circuit of twenty-two miles. Messina, also, was much injured by the shock. The peninsula of Calabria Ultra, where the earthquake occurred, forms the southern extremity of Italy, is about sixty miles in length, and has a mean breadth of about twenty miles. Through the centre of the peninsula runs a chain of granite mountains, which is separated from the sea on its western side by a plain of recent strata, composed of very yielding material. The effect of the earthquake was to disconnect, throughout almost the whole length of this chain, the new with the ancient rock, leaving a chasm between them. One half of the peninsula, therefore, actually slid in the direction of the sea. From this fact alone it may be inferred what the havoc must have been. The geologist Dolomieu, who visited the district shortly after the event, says: When I first passed over to Calabria, and first beheld Polistena, the scene of horror almost deprived me of my faculties; my mind was filled with mingled compassion and terror; nothing had escaped; all was levelled with the dust; not a single house or piece of wall remained; on all sides were heaps of stones so destitute of form, that they gave no conception of there ever having been a town on the spot. The stench of the dead bodies still rose from the ruins. I conversed with many persons who had been buried for three, four, and even for five days. It is stated by the Abbé Spallanzani, who visited Messina about five years after the catastrophe of 1783, that, dividing that city into four parts, two parts were levelled to the ground on that occasion, the third was half laid in ruins, and the fourth was greatly damaged. He observes that at the time of his visit, more than one half the city had been rebuilt, so that the people had left the temporary sheds in which they had been compelled to take refuge. Earthquakes are sometimes accompanied by eruptive phenomena, but the matter ejected is generally superficial. Mud, sand, and stones, accompanied by vapor, smoke, fetid gases, and sometimes flame, are emitted from the crevices in the earth, which frequently close immediately afterwards, without leaving a trace of their existence. During an earthquake at the beginning of the last century, so much earthy matter (mixed with steam) rushed out from chasms near the town of Aquila, (at the northern extremity of the kingdom of Naples,) as to render the fields in the neighborhood unfit for cultivation for many years. Water also ascended from the same crevices to a great height. During the earthquake which destroyed Riobamba, in South America, a muddy mass containing charcoal, crystal of augite, and scales of infusoria, issued from a chasm. On another occasion, numerous hillocks resembling mud-volcanoes were thrown up, but sank again, leaving pools of water in their places. Earthquakes are more powerful agents than volcanoes in modifying the surface of the earth. Large areas of land are raised to greater elevations or subside. Chasms are opened which are afterwards widened by rivers into large valleys. River-courses are filled up and lakes are formed. During the earthquake of Concepcion, the island of Santa Maria, seven miles long, and two miles wide, was raised eight or ten feet; and Mr. Darwin states it to be almost a certainty that it has risen four fathoms since the convulsion of 1751. In Cutch, a mound, fifty miles in length and several miles in width, was raised by an earthquake to a height in some places of ten feet. The mole of the harbor of Messina, which extended more than a mile in length, was entirely swallowed up in 1783, so that no vestige remained to point out where it once was. The following is a list, in chronological order, of the principal earthquakes on record, with the number of persons estimated to have perished: { ASIA. Java. Japan Isles. Many towns are said to have been swallowed 1783 6000 up. 1812 1819 10,000 1822 1826 1827 1935 It thus appears { Cutch. Very few lives were lost, but a great extent of country was clevated. Aleppo destroyed. The towns of Damascus, Acre, Tyre, and Sidon, suffered great damage, and Tiberius and safet were destroyed. In the neighborhood of Mount Ararat. AMERICA. (The town of Lima almost en {tirely destroyed. Jamaica. Great loss of life. Lacatunga and Hambato (in Quito) destroyed. The town of Guatemala greatly { damaged. Anquipa. Santiago much damaged, and The town of Lima, containing 40,000 inhabitants, destroyed. Concepcion destroyed. Great part of St. Domingo destroyed. Guatemala destroyed, with 8000 families. Quito greatly damaged, and Riobamba levelled to the ground. Caraccas entirely destroyed. Copiapo destroyed. Copiapo again destroyed; Valparaiso, and other places in Chili greatly injured. Caraccas greatly injured. (Plain of Bogota. Many towns {overthrown. Concepcion totally destroyed. that in the last 148 years fifteen great earthquakes have convulsed the western shores of South America, and in no case did they occur without the partial or entire destruction of at least one town. The average interval has been about ten years. Few earthquakes are recorded as having occurred in Africa, partly, perhaps, because that continent is yet but little known to Europeans. The great earthquake of Lisbon extended over the northern part of the African continent, and it is stated that a village, eight leagues distant from Morocco, was destroyed, with its inhabitants; eight or ten thousand persons having perished on the occasion. Those who have had actual experience of earthquakes describe their sensations as being such as are given by no other events. Mr. Darwin remarks-" A bad earthquake at once destroys the oldest associations: the world, the very emblem of all that is solid, has moved beneath our feet, like a crust over a fluid; one second of time has conveyed to the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would never have created." Basil Hall tells an amusing anecdote, which shows the sensibility of the Chilians with respect to the slightest premonitory symptoms of these catastrophes. He relates, that while passing the evening with a family residing at Valparaiso, and when the different members of the family were busily engaged, as is customary on such occasions -suddenly," without any apparent cause, the whole party jumped up, and flew in the most frantic manner out of the house, screaming out Misericordia! Misericordia!-beating their breasts at the same time, and looking terrified beyond description." * Travels in South America. |