The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-10-16

was felt.at four O'Clock on the morning Of
Sunday, August 30.
4 The following interesting letter is from
Father F. O. Aguilar, of the Jesuit Order
to the Minister of the Interior - 3 z,
Isa siss8 (. CARANQUI, August 81, 1858.
DEAR MINIsTER--Allthe road from ota,
vaio to lbarra is sown with ruins and the
dead The opening and tumbling In Of
/ the ravlnes are frequent, especially along
the West Cordileras, from Mojando to San
Lorenzo. On the slopes of the Cuiocha,
besides the tumbling of huge pieces, enor-
nous new clefts are being opened, OF the
old ones made wider. The roads that
Joined the farms and towns of the western
slopeare impossible, owing to broad and
deep rayines. The Ambi bluffs gave way,
carrying all the cane fields and houses
along. The formidable masses of stone and
earth that were hurled from the Catacaehi
rolled down into the lower plains, carrying
ruin and desolation along. From the I'm
babura's northern slope has started tor
rent ofmud thvt has formed hillocks, after
destroying some fields of grain near Ibarra,
and killing great number of cattle. The
mud flow was followed by less one of
water, which is daily increasing. ~
| So far we cannot tell whore the centre of
the shock was, for must leave such mat
| tiers and the exploration of the ground till
have attended to more pressing wants
| Nevertheless, it is thought, with reason APP
parently, that the focus is Mount Ocampo,
for it casts out great quantities of bitumi-
nous matter. But few have got safe from
Cotacachi, Urcuqui, Tumbabiro, Salinas
and some other towns We have no news
from any Of these places, as the roads are
entirely destroyed. Yesterday we reached
this unfortunate place after having visited
the ruins of Ibarra and some of the places
where the people have taken refuge and
gathered the dead taken from the ruins
The whole town is nearly leyelled, but not
80 thoroughly as Otavalo, for some few
walls are still up, and some ruins of church
walls six or seven metres higher, as well as
few houses that are badly damaged. The
least injured are those on the southeast side
on the Carangui road, but they are all un-
tenantable. The population of Ibarra has
spread out to different places, but the lar
ger groups are at Carangui and Lulungui.
1t is now contemplated to bring all togeth-
er. To this end, early this morning the
Governor, Captain Penaperrera and myself
went to choose ground. We chose an
inclined plane, quite level and solid to the
southeast of Lulungui on the bank of the
Taguando and clear of the pestilential wind
that watts miasma from among the ruins
of Ibarra. We have already laid out the
plan of the settlement whittier all the pop
ulation is to be brought. We shall watch
earth and stone continue. The few per-
sons who have escaped the fatal shocks are
in complete terror and expect death at any
moment either from the shocks or the pes
tilential fevers that are engendered by the
smells arising from the ruins and the !. ra,
lamcntable and deserves the commiseration
OF all truly catholic people. The calcula-
ton here is that at least 5000 souls have
been lost in this province. We have
been able to get q few from the ruins and
the balance must rot there. So the stencil
is intolerable, and we smell alta distance of
half q league, The appearance of the city,
thus afflicted, is most mournful and terri
flying. The episodes that marked the his
tory of that night of August 10 belong to
the record of lamentations.
Almost every person saved wonders at the
manner In which he got out of the ruins :;
and most of those who escaped death had
to be dug out of the falling buildings
Even yesterday ct noon, when we reached
Ibarra, we had to work assiduously and
carefully for about two hours to get an I'M
fortunate fellow out of the heap Of ruins
l took part in the work to give courage to
Others. The poor fellow had been buried
six days alongside of his wife's corpse
The decomposition of the latter and the
horrors that lay before hiseyes were unsur-
passable / believe. 4i4.ri ,sa gIrsan 81 20
Worst of all, we have had to guard
against theft for heartless wretches fell
upon the ruined cityswith the determine
tion to get what the convulsion had left
within reach of able-bodied men. Even
the Indians thought that the time of ven
geance had come for them. Had there
been men enough to dig out the victims at
any time for the last six days many lives
could have been saved but some were un-
able to aid--we had but few, on the
ground--and some chose rather to steal
There is scarcely a family that has not many
things or many friends to lament. -Four of
the Carmelite nuns are gone, among them
the prioress. Nine only remain Of the Or
der of the Conception; thirteen were kill
ed, including the abbess The bodies of
the four Carmelites killed still remain un-
buried, but the latter thirteen have been
inferred. The following ecclesiastics were
killed REV. Canon Villalobos, Fathers
Alomios, Trejo, O, $. r., and DR.. Pedro
Ceballos. aa8 81 3 q tosr sfi III
At Quitumbita were lost Drs. Andrade
Marin and J. Bonce, besides many other
persons In the house where they lived not
a soul was left to tell the tale. At Ibarra,
Is of the Rocha family were lost, leaving
the name extinguished; of the Villota fam
lily, II persisted ;of the Almeidas, 90 of
the Vacas, A. of the Sabias,7; ofthe latter's
tenants, 90; of the Perez, 3 !; the Laras, q
Burban, 8 4; Rosales, IL; Retama, 4; An
drade Marin, 10; Miguel Andrade, Z Lee
desma, 15-the whole name; Penaherrera,
49,; Argijalva, A.; Ribadanciza, a; Meza,
q; Vega,7; Yepez, 8; Espinoza, 6; Vim
uesa, /; Torres, II I; Brizon, B.; Acosta, s.;
Pena, O.; Teran, 8 Flores, a 4Gemez, A
Gurman, g.; Pozes, Benalceaser, 5
Castillo, L; Suares, 8; Lopez, IS and Va
lencia, a. aaaig loot doiil1 ti'i1 czas' 81
Z Besides tho above horrifying record
there were persons who came to attend the
usual fair, and were buried in the ruins of
the three portals that surrounded the
public square. Of the common people
very many were the victims, and we can as
yet form no idea of the victims, especially
of those who belonged to the better classes.
The Governors family ia safe !; Senior y. M.
Espana lost q man servant Most Of the