Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-09-21
The Earthquake.


The Earthquake. fItl
Humboldt the great traveller, geogra-
pher aud philosopher, said Of the region
near the Andes, in Peru, that earth
quakes are so frequent there that they ex-
cite but little more surprise than sudden
shower docs in Europe. Though this is
of course somewhat exaggerated ex-
preston, il nevertheless conveys strik'
ing idea Of the frequency Of earthquakes
in that region, and Of the degree TO which
the people have become famllisrized
with these awful commissions of nature.
1t is said on almost equally good authori'
~, that taking the range Of the west
coast Of South America, from tae south
ern part Of Peru to the upper part Of
Ecuador, there is scarcely day without
n shock Of some kind, and it is estimated
that the coast Of Peru has risen eighty
five feet from these causes since it was
first inhabited Intelligence of terri.
BILE convulsion OF this kind will be found
in our news columns this morning, and
the calamity as described in the brief
dispatch we have received, is Of the most
fearful character. 1t appears that on
the 18Th of August, wide spread earth
quake devastated large part Of the coast
Of Peru and Ecuador, totally destroying
from fifteen to twenty cites and towns,
some Of them being more than thousand
miles apart The dispatch does not
enable us to identity all the places
mentioned. AT least six Of them,
however, viz: africa, Iquique, Mo-
quegua, Pissgus and Locumba are in
the department of Moquegua, the host
souiherly part Of Peru; two others, Are
quipa and Chincha, are in the depart
ment of Arequipa; and Chala may be
either OF the Peruvian towns of tho
name, one being in Moquegua, and tie
other in Arequipa. Ibsrra and San
Pablo are in Ecuador Arequipa IL the
capital Of the department of that anne.
and was city Of about forty the ,usand
with many well bp IN and
substantial public buildings, O. I,hedral,
churches, converts, etc II ,aad been
four times previously dsvas .tated by
africa was olce a very i'm.
portsnt place, having been tie shipping
port for the large wes' I'll furu ished by the
mines of Potosi At formerly had pop
niation pi S0'0'J, but had been reduced
TO about 4oV'.y though the teiegraphic dis.
patch no.. gives it 1900. Tscna was q
io.n If about 10000 population, and is
an' led with africa by government rail-
way Of about forty miles in length. Mo-
ouecua was the capital of the depart
ment of that name, with population of
about 10, 900 Iquique and Chincha we're
small seaport towns, with populations of
probably 1000 each, deriving their chief
importance from the guano islands of the
same name in the immediate vicinity.
Pisagua is also small seaport, aud Lo-
cumba is inland. Ibarrs, one of the de-
stroyed towns in Ecuador, is situated
about fifty miles to the northward of the
city of Quito, which was SO dreadfully
ravaged by an earthquake In 1859, and
is at the foot of the volcanic mountain |
Imbabura. 1t was a well built and beau
tiful town, containing about $4,000 in
hsbitants. San Pablo is in the same |
vicinity.
These towns contained from eighty
thousand to one hundred thousand in
habitants, and if they were totally de
stroyed SIS stated, there must be fully |
that many people homeless and ruined. |
How many of the unfortunate inhabi- |
tants persisted outright is not so clear;
the Havana dispatch says twenty-five |
but from the much smaller
numbers reported to have persisted in
africa and lou qle, there is reason 10 |
hope that twenty. i've thousand is an ex-
aggeration. But De this as it may, the
loss of life, the destruction of property,
and the utter ruin of so many thriving
cities aud towns are awful subjects for
As usual 10 such cases,
the horrors Of the event, when the earth
was rising and falling as if it was so
much water, and when houses were reel
ing and tottering, were fearfully aggra-
waited by the sudden rising of the sea,
which rolled in upon the shore in great
wave like wall forty feet high. The
influence of this tremendous disturbance
Of the sea was felt as far north as San
Francisco. These terrific shocks to what
we are in the habit Of calling the solid
earth, show what frail matter it is after
all when assailed by the mighty forces
pent up beneath it's comparatively thin
crust. This earthquake was probably
felt over an area of a thousand miles
square, and many millions of cubic feet
Of rock and earth and water must
have been upheaved. There is no form
Of human expression that can give an
idea Of such power. Yet there it is all
the time in active existence but few
miles beneath our feet. But seldom
itself in our vicinity, it is in
ceaseless action in the neighborhood of
whether they be active or
extinct And volcanoes are the great
of the Pacific coast of
Of the two hundred and
twenty FIVE volcanoes that have been in
a state of activity within the last hundred
and sixty years, large majority are on
the Pacific coast of this continent. The
Andes are full of them, some of the VOL
canic peaks of that great range being
among the highest mountains in the
world. In the neighborhood of Arequipa,
which appears to have been about the
center of this last terrible visitation,
there are mountains between four and
FIVE miles in hight, and the incouceivable
powers that upheaved those vast masses
are beyond all doubt the same that have
been recently at work overthrowiug the
feeble productions Of human hands, upon
which we sometimes look with such won
dering eyes -Philadephia Ledger.
A Radical Wager Accepted.