The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-14

receiving cargo, and was 10 have sailed in few
days. The Eduardo is also high and dry on
land. The entire crews of the merchant vessels
we're drowned. The Wateree lost one sailor,
and on the Fredonia all were drowned except
the Captain, 7. w. Doty, DR.. F. l.. Dubois, Pay
master Williams, aud two sailors Augustus Jen-
sen and Charles Leoville, who happened to be
on shore at the time.
The destruction Of Arequipa--a city number
Ing 5000 Inhabitants was, save the destruc-
tion of africa and Iquique, on the coast, the
most appalling scene presented by the earth
quake in Peru. 1t is thus family described by
an eye-witness:-At about four minutes past s
p. M. last Thursday, the 18th, slight move
ment OF the earth was noticeable here by
persons who chanced to be seated; there was
no rumbling. In about eight 10 ten seconds
more the movement became strong enough for
persons not seated to notice. This movement
gradually increased in strength until, after
about thirty seconds, pieces of timber began to
fall from the houses. In minute all we're satisfied
that great earthquake was at hand. Then
began terrible rumbing, similar to the noise
OF an avalanche-every one ran to the open
spaces. Ii seemed as ii the earth was about to
open; the earth shook and every structure
swayed to and fro from north to south. 1t
seemed In my own house as If the walls were
about to meet and smother us. In about three
minutes the soil shook so that it was almost lm-
possible to hold ones feet. The strongest build
ings began then to cast off stones, bricks, pieces
OF wood, ETC., and the weakest began 10 fall,
almost all of them level with the ground, In
about five minutes from the first movement the
whole city was epveloped In clouds of dust and
darkness. and resounded with the crash OF
falling buildings. There is not one house
left standing in Arequipa. The only church
tower :. left is tnat of Santa Catalina,
but it, like the cathedral will have
to be pulled down. Santa Domingo church is
down to the ground. The Portal de Flores is all
down, as well as the surrounding blocks. Nearly
all the inmates Of the prison and hospitals
per1shed. Many persons are known to have been
crushed TO death in the streets. We are now
living in q tent on the river bank. No one dares
to 60 10 town, as the shocks still continue to
bring down what little Is left standing, They
evening some of the shocks have been very
violent. So far there have been about seventy
six shocks up to 8 p. N. The river Pau.
Which makes us Believe that stfe9 the cOUGs SoIGs
noes are at work. Everything is confusion
and the cries and lamentations thet we hear are
heart-rending: Thus the work of the Arequipe
nos for three hundred years has been DESTROYED
IN few minutes; it will take i've hundred years
to do the same work over. The debris of the
Jesuit church was hurled to a distance OF one
hundred yards. The picture presented by our
desolate city is sad indeed. God grant that our
fears be not realized, tor Mount Misti vomiting
lava clouds OF smoke and quantities OF mud
and darkness hides its belching from our view.
We hear the constant noise of falling rocks and
earth, and the river is impossible, owing to its
black color and sulphurous odor.
At Lima, the capital of Peru, as at Calao, the
neighboring port, the shock was terrible, but
VIC uumdEC SUSuC. a writer
gives the following account:-The duration of
the movement was about three minutes and q
half, and the shock, instead of folio wing the
usual vertical motion, appeared to be lateral,
dangerous. The aspect of the city during the
movement was truly exciting. Every one in
Lima, at the first coming of the shock,
aWays tSe SEEKS the Of an arch
as safe refuge, and on this occasion these
favored spots were much occupied. In an incre-
dibly short space of time the great public plaza
was filed with frightened men, women, and
children, and, as If by common instinct all
assumed suppliant position-every one on
their knees-and the air resonant with the
shiieks, lamentations, and petitions, addressed
principally to Heaven; the houses shook visibly,
and the high towers of the cathedral swaye to
and fro ike ships masts in a storm. The
great length of the shock was particularly
alarming; but fortunately no damage took place
III this city.
Great Earthquakes.
During the first halt of this century s240 of
these visitatioEs were noticed, or about one
every week. In Europe, during the last ten
years, there have been 800 earthquakes, or one
every nine days. At the commencement of the
fifteenth century only $50 of these shocks had
found place in history. During the next 800
years 2804 earthquakes were recorded, or almost
four times as many as during all the preceding
ages. From these facts it has been inferred
that, whatever may be the origin of these up
heavings OF the crust of the earth, the phe-
nomena are greatly increasing in number, and
their causes In Violence
Among the earliest earthquakes reported is
that by which the famous Herculaneum and
Pompei were destroyed in the year So. Fifty
two years after this, Antioch, in Syria, was
almost entirely destroyed, the calamity occur.
ring Just ut the time the Emperor Trajan was on
a visit ~ the place. In 45S 1t was again visited
with an earthquake, and then again IN 626, the
number OF persons perishing In the ruins on this
latter occasion being estimated at quarter of
million
In 1892, Port Royal, the capital of Jamaica.
was, entirely submerged by the force OF an
earthquake, which swallowed up over thou
sand acres, and drove ships SO lar inland that
they loated above the buried city.
In 1772, an entire volcano sunk into the earth
In the Island of Java, carrying with it forty
villages, the mountain ITSELF which was fifteen
miles long and six broad, accompanying the
hamlets and their 1857 inhabitants,
On the lst of November, 1855, occurred the
memorable earthquake at Lisbon, by which
10000 persons perished in the twlnking of an
eye. Here also was the great tidal wave seen of
an altitude Of fifty feet. One of the most awful
incidents Of this earthquake was the sinking
of the city quay. This had just been con.
to 1t, as last refuge, aei thousands of the
hapless inhabitants. Without a moments
warning the earth opened suddenly to re-
ceiVe 1t, and after sucking in the mass
must have closed over 1t, as not single body
of all the thousands that went down, nor the
least spar OF ark from any of the ships near by
that were sucked into the chasm, ever came to
the top. The water there is near 600 fathoms
deep, and at an unknown distance beneath the
bottom repose the hapless Lsbonese. This
Lisbon earthquake, Humboldt estimates,
affected portion OF the Garth four times as
large as Europe and was felt in the Alos, on
the coast of sweden. In the West Indies on
Lake Ontario and along the coast of Massa-
chusetts.
In 1911 the earthquakes on the Mississippi,