New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-07
SOUTH and CENTRAL AMERICA
THE EARTHQUAKES.

NEW AND FEARFUL EXPERIENCES-A TERRIBLE
SCENE AT SEATTLE FALB PREDICTION.
IRON Our OWN CORRESPONDENCE
LIMA. Sept 13-On the oath ulto. when the steam
ship Payta was in latitude 1917 south, and longi-
tude 7O en- west about fifty miles south Of AFRICA and
three miles from the coast, she encountered fearful
earthquake, the hour being lbs p m. The sensation
experienced on board was II the bottom of the sea
had risen I'D and struck the bottom of the ship with
tremendous force. The conclusion was so great rs
to cause the destruction Of more than half OF the
glassware on board tho ship and lift heavy weights
several inches from the deck and PROSTATE nearly
all persons board. The appeared to be boiling
as far as the eye could reach and the shock, which
lasted about fifty seconds, was accompanied by OPP
palng subterranean sounds. The coast, which in
the vicinity of the steamer was of great altitude,
seemed be shaken to Its base and for considerable
time was obscured by vast clouds of dust which was
dslodged from the ground by the force of the shock
The first great shock was succeeded by fully twenty
others of inferior force in quick succession
The passengers and Others were excessively alarmed
and looked forward with much anxiety to their
rival at Iquique port distant 81 miles south of the
locality where the first great shock was felt. At
that port however 1t was found the earthquakes had
not been by any means severe or numerous, and
again at Cobija 81 miles further south than Iquque,
but one or two nconsiderable shocks had been felt.
This combined with the fact that at the latter places
the earthquakes occurred some time later shows that
their movement was from north to south. All per-
sons on board the ship for time after the first
great shock, experienced vague and undehnabe
feeling of discomfort and uneasiness, almost APP
preaching the sensations of sea-sickness My last
letter will have informed you of the great earth
quakes of the Goth ult; from that date to the Ath
the country between Chala and Iquique upward Of
oon 80 1U ahaki inc ma
severe earthquakes occurring between those dates
which were scarcely mentioned, but which at any
other time would have been of sufficient force to
have caused universal conservation independent of
the two great shocks of the Goth and 9th. At
Pisagua the sea was observed to recede 10 feet and
aferward to rise to hight of 10 feet above it's ordin-
airy level. As these movements, however, were
gradual the sea did not assume the dread power OF
tidal waves and no damage was occasioned Tara
paca, Cuzco, Puho Tacua Arequipa, and africa all
came in for full share of the earthquakes especially
those of the oath nit. The two latter places did not
suffer proportonaby to the time of the great earth
quakes Of 1861 but this readily explained by the
fact of neither city having been since rebuilt. The
inhabitants, however, unite in averring that the two
great shocks of the Goth and oath of last month
fully equal to that of last year, and express no doubt
that had it been possible for the cities of africa and
Areduipa to have been rebuilt between each Of the
three terrible COMMISSIONS both cities would have
inevitably been three times destroyed Every fam
lily in South Peru, and even in Lima and Calao, is
preparing for the still more formidable cataclysm
predicted by Fab to happen at the end OF this or the
beginning Of next month. Words fail to depictth
universal terror caused by his prophecies combined
with the effects of the serious phenomena which
have already seemed to partially verify his prognos
tcations.
VALPARAISO, Sept. 3.-The steamer Payta, which
arrived here the 18th ult, brings intelligence OF
series of earthquakes experienced off AFRICA in her
voyage from Callao to this port These. or rather
some of them are described TO have been equal to
the memorable commissions Of last year, but as they
occurred in the sections of the country, where
the cities are already entirely ruined and RACED to
the ground, the amount of damage has not been
caused as at that eventful period. Throughout this
country the people agtated by the great earth
quake question, not much, however, on account of
fears for this Republic as for the sister Republics Of
Peru and Ecuador.
PANAMA, Sept. 27.-Further than the mention of
two or three shocks of earthquake there is nothing
whatever of interest from this Republic On the
dates of the violent earthquakes in Peru, no serious
shock was felt either in Guayaquil or Quito. A few
slight earthquakes have been experienced in Bolivia