Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-08-05


IN one instance buryiug two or three persons
in the ruins.
The amount of injury to the city is estim-
ated, by an official survey, at sac millions of
dollars, a sum quite within bounds. when +
IS recollected that from the nature of the
buildings they cannot be repaired in MANY
instances, but must be rebuilt. The house
occupied by Alsop, Wetimore & Co. is con-
sldered one the strongest in Lima, and is
said to have cost $4,000. Some Of the
rooms are cracked perpendicularly in MANY
places, and in others the upper part of the
house (which is composed of bamboo sticks
and mud, of about2 feet in thickness, separ-
ated itself from the " adobes !" or sun dried
bricks, Of which the walls, to the height of
three feet above the floor o. the second story
are composed, and had the shock Continued
three seconds longer the whole top. with ito
brick roof, would have fallen in ~
About 30 persons persisted; that is the
number Of bodies which have been dus ont
from the rubbish, but others are supposed W
be still undiscovered. Had it been in the
night the loss of lives would, no doubt. have
been greater. Twas awakened from a sound
sleep by the most terrifck noise, and Jumping
up, saw the walls of my room vibrating yery
violently. concluded that no time was to
be lost, and made the best of my way into the
street, amidst falling plaster, and stumbling
along over the floors like drunken man. In
the street allwas dismay; the heart appalling
noise which ushered in this frightful phe-
nomena and the sound of the cracking walls.
were still ringing in our ears. The poor
natives were upon their knees, (many of
them just as they had risen from their beds)
beating their breasts, and calling upon God,
the virgin, and all the saints to save them !;
and expecting every instant another and an
overwhelming shock. Indeed, when re-
f1ected that this was danger against which
no place afforded security, las the earth was
expected to open as it had done during the
great earthquake of l74O) was very well
disposed to join the cry of misiricordia, {"
and seek protection from Him "who but
looks upon the earth, and it trembleth.
! The great shock was followed by five or
six slight tremblings in as many days, which
excited great terror, and must confess
have been more alarmed by these harmless
shocks than by the great CONFUSION: and it
is remarked generally, that person who
has never experienced an earthquake, can
not, when the alarm of Temblor," is given,
enter at all into the feelings of him who has
witnessed one-the first has merely vague
! idea of danger--tbo last fEe-fslll possession
of extreme terror and dismay.
The excitement has in great measure
abated but for week or ten days after the
shock, you would see every night, hundreds
stretched upon mats in the squares, alameda,
and wherever an open space could be found,
almost afraid to close their eyes, and start
ing upon their kness at the least alarm to
repeat their 'aves.' Even now many are
seen sleeping at the open doors and when
the subject is mentioned, cross themselves,
| adding, perhaps, their common exclamation,
Jesus, Maria!"
| The depth of superstition and ignorance
to which the common people of this country
are degraded, may be seen by their implicit
belief in the stories inculcated by the priests,
as the cause of this calamity. Of course
these designing men lose no opportunity to
endeavour to regain their former ascendan-
cy, and feeling that their occupation is al
most gone, do not hesitate about the means
for effecting their object They look upon
foreigners as decided enemies; not only as
heretics but as necessarily imparting to the
people with whom they have intercourse, a
portion of their liberal notions. The resi-
dence of their heretics in the country was
first preached up publicly as the cause that
the earth indignant at their being suffered
to remain among the catholics, would as it
were shake them from her bosom; and we
could not walk the streets for day or two
after, without hearing knots OF cholas and
negroes gravely assigning this as the earth
.quake's origin. 1t is said Gen. La Mar, Or
dered the monks to take heed under pain of
his displeasure, and that since they have
been more cautious. Some other reasons
were assigned even more absurd and ri
diculous.
At Callao the shock was felt after the
dust was seen to rise from Lima, so that it
would seem that it proceeded from the
| mountains to the sea. Those persons who
were on board vessels in the harbour de-
scribed the sensation to be the same as
when ship thumps violently against the
bottom, and the noise like that produced by
"twenty chain cables running through the
hawser holes" Tine water was very turbid,
and for considerable time afterwards large
bubbles came up in every direction. Sew
eral villages on the coast to the northward
have been destroyed. twas notexperienc-
ed at the southwark, but few miles.
have letter of the 18th April, from africa,
where it was not felt at all.
| | have almost filled my sheet with this
engrossing subject. There has hitherto
been stated period for the occurrence Of
these heavy shocks, and people here feel
verv confident that in their iues such anoth-
er will not happen.
MAMMOTH CAVE.