The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-16
THE EARTHQUAKES.
A Column Of Water Thrown Out of the
Ground al Iqaique.
Graphic Description of the Sea
Bore at africa.
HIGHLY VALUABLE OFFICIAL DATA.
THE CONFUSION IN PERI.
The Scene mt Arica-Before ind Amer the
Caianity-Directi0n of the Sh0ciSs-VaI"-
able Facts.

The Scene Mt Arica-Before and Amer the
Characterization of the Shocks-vaIu-
able Facts.
PIsCo, August 9, 1865.
On the afternoon OF the 18th inst, between I'VE
minutes past five and ten minutes past five O'Clock,
both the and the land hereabouts were the scene
OF an appalling calamity. The fun area covered is
not yet known, but far we are sure that II reaches
from Cobija to Chala, The last port where cast
anchor Chala is in ruins, and the destruction was
dealt inland far as Arequipa, which longer
exists. viewed the sad sight OF Aricas desolaton,
and will first tell you what I saw before stating
what has reached my ears about scenes of ruin
inland.
When we left Coquimbo on the 18th several
changes in the atmosphere were noticed, but we
added no Importance to them. Ordinarily at africa
agreeable breeze is felt from ten A. NJ. until five
p. NJ, and at night there is calm which in sum-
mer causes as an almost unbearable feeling. About
tins time, however. the above order Of things
changed. At morning there was rarely any breeze,
while at night there strong gusts wind that
stirred up the sea very much On the 18th inst the
water wore dead calm for some time. Towards
i've O'Clock In the afternoon fresh breeze from
south set in but it lasted only while the damage
appearing In the distance preceded the awful
shock OF earthquake and the ground began
70 shake nom south 70 north with so
great force that all the buildings began to shed their
decorations and in q few moments tumbled to the
ground themselves. The wooden buildings stood
few seconds longer than their stone-buit neighbOrs.
All 40 once the cry was heard-''The sea the sea ~
On looking towards the water we saw at q glance
that we had to move rapidly to the hills or be en-
quilted, for the sea had, to use the expression,
shrugged up TO an immense height. We could not
measure it. In an instant it rushed impetuously on
the shore, which was shaking from the earthquake.
The vessels were at anchor in sight, They were now
pitched ruthessly nOrthward then southwark, and
tossed thus to and fro for some moments by waves
about thirty feet high when they were cast ashore
or dashed to pieces on the reefs Five different times
did such wave rise, but the last four times its
height was less than the first Had the waves risen
few feet higher they would have washed away the
upper portion OF town, which, however, has been
rendered uninhabitabe by the shocks OF the earth.
These shocks kept US in terror. They required on
the first day every quarter of an hour and on the
second day every hour. There, in the town, stands
palm tree mistaken by the convusion and I'M
touched by the sea, its leaves as green as ever.
In Iquique bay, out OF six vessels az anchor only
enc was lost. Mejillones has been completely wiped
cut. One shanty on rock and the vessel Condor Is
all the property saved. OF all the saltpetre regions
Pisagua has suffered least Two-thirds OF it are still
standing, and only fourteen or fifteen people were
killed there.
At Ylo the earth opened and threw up a column OF
water.
AT Tacna, forty-Gve miles northeast OF africa and
southeast OF Arequipa the shock was felt ram east
e rest