suddenly an awful, overpowering shock caused universal destruction. In less than six seconds the city was in ruins. The stunning noise of falling houses, the horrible cracking of the earth, which opened and shut rapidly, and repeatedly, in numerous places; the desperate heart-rending outcries of the people; the stifling heat; the blinding, smothering clouds of dust; the utter helplessness and confusion, and the extreme horror and alarm, can neither be described nor fully imagined.

This fatal convulsion took place about a minute and a half or two minutes after the first shock, and it lasted, equally violent, during nearly two minutes. During this time no one could stand unsupported; people clung to each other, to trees, or to posts. Some threw themselves on the ground; but there the motion was so violent that they were obliged to stretch out their arms, on each side, to prevent being tossed over and over. Horses and all animals were greatly frightened; standing with their legs spread out, and their heads down, trembling violently. Birds flew about wildly.

After the violent shock had ceased, the clouds of dust, which had been raised by the

falling buildings, began to disperse; people breathed more freely, and began to look round them. Ghastly and sepulchral was their appearance: had the graves opened and given up their dead, the sight would have been scarcely less shocking. Pale and trembling, covered with dust and perspiration, they ran from place to place, calling for their relations or friends. Many seemed to be quite bereft of reason.

Considerable shocks continued at short intervals, harassing and alarming. The earth was never long quiet during that or the next day; nor, indeed, during the three days following the great shock.

For many hours, after the ruin, the earth was tremulous, and the shocks were very frequent, though not severe. Many shocks, but not all, were preceded by a rumbling, subterranean noise, like distant thunder. Some compared the sound to the distant discharge of many pieces of artillery. These sounds came from the southwest corner, and preceded the shock by one or two seconds. Sometimes, but not often, the sound was heard unaccompanied by any shock.

Roofs fell in everywhere; houses built of adobes (unbaked bricks) fell into a confused

heap. The cathedral, whose walls are four feet in thickness, supported by great buttresses, and built of good bricks and mortar, suffered more than other buildings.

The city of Concepcion stands upon a plain very little higher than the level of the river Bio-Bio. The soil is loose and alluvial, To the eastward and northward are rocky and irregular hills. From the foot of these hills the loose earth was everywhere parted by the great convulsion; great cracks being left, from an inch to a foot in width. It seemed as if the low land had been separated from the hills, having been more disturbed by the shock.

Women washing in the river near Concepcion, were startled by the sudden rise of the water, from their ankles to their knees, and at the same moment felt the beginning of the convulsion. It was said that the dogs avoided the ruin by running out of the way before the shock. This, although certainly known to have been the case at Talcahuano, wants confirmation with respect to Concepcion. Of nine men who were repairing the inside of the church, seven were killed and two severely hurt. One of these poor fellows lay half-buried in the ruins during

came,

five days, with a dead body lying across him, through which it was necessary to cut, for his release. A mother escaping with her children, saw one fall into a hole; a wall close to her was tottering—she pushed a piece of wood across the hole and ran; the wall fell and covered the hole with masses of brick-work. Next day the child was taken out unhurt. Another woman missed a child; she saw that a high wall was tottering, but ran for her son and brought him out; as she crossed the street the wall fell, but they were safe. When the tremendous crash the whole street, which she had just crossed, was filled up with part of the ruins of the cathedral. Besides a waving or undulating movement, vertical, horizontal, and circular or twisting motions were felt. An angular stone pinnacle was particularly noticed, which had been turned half round without being thrown down or leaving its base. Persons riding at the time of the great shock were stopped short; some, with their horses, were thrown to the ground; others dismounted, So little was the ground but could not stand. at rest after the great ruin, that between the 20th of February and the 4th of March, more than 300 shocks were counted.