The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1868-09-26
THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

Remarkable PhenOmenOn-Fiv
Hundred Mummies Resurrect-
ed.
A Lima, Peru, correspondent of the
New York Times relates the following
singular result of the earthquake at Ari-
ca, giving Gen. Fitzpatrick as his author
ity. He says:
As the earth opened and yawned, there
came up fre hundred munlmies, who
stand in long lines facing the sea, every
one of the skeletons in perfect preserva-
ton, the hands doubled and supporting
the chin, the knees drawn up, and the
feet supporting the feshess body This
mnst be one of the most frightful sights
possible, and quite beyond description.
The spot where these mummies now
stand was once an old cemetary, some
ninety years ago, it is said, aud these
skeletons are doubtless the fabled Incas
ssnd Indians. who either buried. them
..a-i.es gttre or were interreo>ip this man
s7iunmlesof The Incas, which described
in a former letter as among the curiosi-
ties to be seen in the museum at Lima.
AS the ground sreceded, what a CHASTITY
| spectacle, amid the throes of an earth
quake, the coming up again to the earth
OF these long buried skeleton remains.
Five hundred ghostly mummies !
The same correspondent writes:
In Tambo priest, or padre, as he is
called, told the affrighted people not to
fee to the hills. He would go down to
the sea, aud he had power to still the wa
ters. The foolish people, 500 in num-
Der, believing in his omnipotence, gather
ed around him in solemn procession, and
followed him to the sea but the voice of
q man, who took upon himself the attrib-
utes of the Almighty, was not needed,
and himself and 500 with him were
drowned.
THE TIDAL PHENOMENA OF THE EARTH
QUAKE.
One of the most striking Of the phe-
nomena attending earthquakes is the r.
feet produced on the sea by these convul-
sions, especially when the earthquake is
near the shore. In an earthquake there
is an undulation of the solid crust of the
earth, and the influence of this earth
wave being communicated to the sea,
causes the latter to swell and retire from
the beach, and the great wave rolls in
upon the shore. This is frequently the
case in the immediate locality of the
earthquake but it sometimes happens
that the influence of the disturbing agen-
cies upon the sea extends to consideral
Ai1fa &ho nj .vha :
earthquake occurs. The late
highly intereS
these points
tention Of soi
quake the sea
the whole westq
car.end along Il
A
from the
sweeping
On the SOUTHERN
chuana, a whaling 5ts{ll9e, ai5Ian
400 miles from africa, at abo1S
o'clock on the night of the 18th of AuEV
ust, that is about six hours after then
catastrophe in Peru and Ecuador had
taken place, great tidal wave swept into
the bay, submerging greater part of the
town of Taiachuana and Tome. But,
more remarkable still, tidal phenomena
of similar character to those which ap-
peared on the southern coast of the con-
tinent showed themselves on the coast of
California, at distance of nearly 1000
miles from Peru. Thus letter appears
in the Los Angeles Star, from Mr.. Il.
Hewitt, describing a tidal phenomenQp
witnessed at Wilmington, Southern Cali
fornia, on the 14th Of August, at about
z o'clock on the morning of that day.
he says: THE tide was observed to be
running in with unusual velocity for
about fifteen minutes, and then to sud-
denly turn and run out for about the
same length Of time, with tht same un-
exampled rapidity. 1t is now 8 o'clock
in the evening, and the same running in
and running out, at intervals of from ff-
teen to twenty-five minutes for each
direction, has been going on since it was
| first discovered this morning. Captain
Polhomus of the steamer Cricket, informs
me that in crossing the bar to-day he OBJ
served the water fall FIVE feet in eight
minutes, and to rise the same number of
feet in the same space of time. Another
unexplainable popularity Of this never
before -heard-of tidal freak is that the
water from the sea would run up on one
side of the channel and dozen the other
side at the same time" The same day
irregularities in the tide in the Oakland
4 creek were noticed by several persons.
The tide alternately rose and fell, and it
was observed at the foot of Washington
street, in Oakland, that while drift-wood
fioated toward the mouth Of the creek
the water was gradually rising. On the
morning of the 18th, according to tele-
gram from San Francisco, which appear
ed at the time in the Tribune, series of
waves commenced flowing upon the coast
off San Pedro, cansing the tide to rise
sixty three or sixty-four feet above the
ordinary high water wark, which was
followed by the falling of the tide an