The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1868-09-23
From the Baltimore Sun.
THE GREAT CALAMITY IN s0UfH AAE-

The earthquake which occurred on the
18th ot August, in Peru and Ecuador.
whose name Is derived from its pusition
uuder the equator seems 10 have been the
most destructive 0i human life which has
ever occurred on this continent. Twenty.
h.e thousand psrsons ate SAID TO have pc
.,shed, and tnirly thou sand made homeless.
lne accounts oi the destruction ot llie may
be exaggerated, AS hrst accounts Usually
are, Uul the Calamity must have been II
fearful one " give rise to such statements.
lne Chlncha Islands are said 10 have been
the scene oi Succession of horrors-hrst Il
hurricane, then an earthquake. and hnally
an inineiise tidal wave which ruse lv The
helsnt ot the highest part vi the island. In
Tacna SIXTY -luur d.sinct shocks were ielt,
aud continued up 10 the 10Th. Letters from
Quite bring dates To The 18Th, up to which
llne the earthquakes cunt,nued at luyer-
.ais oi a lew hours.
Linta, the sapraI ol Peru, which appears
10 nave suffered but httie damage OH thls
Vccaslou, has experienced heretofore up>
~arus III Twelve tremendous earthquakes.
which wee tsrrlDly destructive Ia lIie aud
property, III Une vi which every house Ia
the city was destroyed. but ia none were
80 many lives ivsi a. in this last fearful ca
'sm1ty. The original town ui Calios, :he
puIt ui Lama, six mics distant, was demo
nshea aud suLneig ged by The earthquakes IA
l7l6. In tue wLuie Coast dIslrIci earth
quaAes are hequent. The coast vi Peru,
II u estimated, mas risen eighty five teel
since IL was nrst inhabited. The recorded
pteaunsna vi earthquakes exhibit Sd much
resea.Disase 10 those ~ volcanoes that ii II
diihcutt To resist the conclusion that they
are pruduced by the same chemical process.
acting at u great dep,n beneath the surface
Ut the earth. Ecuador, which has suffered
80 severely in cntnGnon with Peru from the
talr visitation. has twcnty-t"o mountains
watch rise aoo,e the imits vi pepelu.i
su"w, and twentS five nmre aourc 10000
teet. ut which u majority are volcanoes,
same CONSTANTLY actise, others oecasl"nal-
l., 50.
Ihe accounts ~ lar which have reached
u. oi the is1e earthquake give tearisl PIC
tarc ui the working vi the terrific subter-
ranean i"rces which nave s~"pt "f whole
populations aud iald large portions vi cites
'n runs. The sea aud he yawning earth
seem 10 have been euntending for the Prey
81, human i,Ie. What bumbardmen. ot ar.
lilly can be compared 10 shock which, in
live mInutes, destroys a town Ike AreIu.
p. built nj the strongest graulte and Con
lalnlng 35 .nu0 Inhabitants How puny the
must formidable m"tIse power invented by
man compaIed 10 the enormous tidal wave
which carries stout ships. some III them war
vessels. distance in shure, leastag them
high aml iry on the mainland! IL - dh.
tcaa ior the human Imagination to con
celye such spectacle Ut terror, hurror aud
misery such an exhibition I'll the utter i'm
poisace ol man in presence ol grand con.
suIsion vi nature, as Is exhibited In The late
scenes in Peru and Ecuador, of wholesale
drs;ructnn ot thousands of human lives,
and the panic, anguish aud utter destitutiun
Gf many oi the survivors.
The only earthquakes of modern times
which compare IN special interest with the
late terrible tragedy are thuse vi Lisbon. in
sl7j5. and the Kingdom of Naples. IN 1853
Ihe loss ot Tile IN the latter, according In
some statements made nj the time, was from
$4,000 10 $4,000. The destruction, how.
ever, was not ~ instantaneous as i'm the late
calamity. liz that oi Lisbon, however, Co..
Ooo pers"ns are believed to have perlshed
IN SIX minutes,
IL has been ob-t we'd in furme. remarka.
bic earthquakes, among them that al Lis
bon, that the watets vi distant oceans and
AXES exhibited, ABOUT the same time, an
extraordinary agitation. the tide In some
places rising twenIy feet. Something ST.
inilar to this il believed to have accompa-
MED the late earthquake in Peru. A teie-
gram from san francisco. published in the
Atlantic cities abuut the last Of August,