The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-09-20
ERUPTION OF COTOPAXI.


people.
ERUPTION OF COTOPAXI.
More than One Thousand Lives Lost.
Ecuador Correspondence Ne,o York Nation.
QU1To, July 4.
The last eruption of the volcano Of
Cotopaxi, the tenth according to my COM
putation, took place on the 26th of June
last, with every circumstance that could
increase its horror-utter darkness in
broad day, thunder and lightning, fearful
explosions that made the earth tremble,
subterranean noises and wild gusts of
wind, accompanied by rain of ashes.
An eyewitness told me that the volcano
poured out a cataract ten times the bulk
of Niagara, which carried all before it
in its headlong course, and submerged the
whole surrounding country. The torrent
divided itself in two opposite directions,
as if to give greater scope to its devasta-
ton and to make confusion still more
dire. One branch took southerly
course toward the city of Latacunga, sit
uated twelve miles from Cotopaxi. On
its way the torrent converted the plain
of Callao into an immense lake. There
is but faint hope that the ruins of the
palace of the Incas, described by Hum
boldt, and all other travellers through the
central valley Of the equatorial Andes,
have escaped the ravages of the flood.
Near Latacunga the furious current tore
up from its very foundation the cetton
factory of Don Jose Villagomez, whose
value was estimated at $500, 900; crops,
cattle, buildings were swept away; the
massive bridges of Cutuche and Pansal-
vo were destroyed, as we'll as a part OF
the fine carriage-road (scarce equalled
even in Europe) which connects Quito
with the towns in the south of the re-.
public.
THE TORRENTS OF BOILING WATER.
The branch that headed toward the
south of Cotopaxi devasted the prosper
GUS and enchanting valley of Chillo, and
in particular the estate of the Senor
Aguirre, noted for having been the resi-
dence of Humbolt. There, too, as in
Latacunga, arose the building of a thriv
ing factory, which, only the year before,
had been destroyed by fire, and had been
repaired at great expense. The torrent
rooted it from the ground, and bore it
away in a thousand fragments. 1t is as
serted that mill of Don Manuel Pala-
co.'s foated on the water like ship at
sea until scattered by the current. The
loss in the valley of Chillo alone is esti-
mated at over two millions of dollars,
and the loss in other sections is equally
great. It is likewise calculated that the
number of the dead exceeds one thou.
sand. Although the surroundings OF
Quito have been laid waste, the city itself
suffered only from rain of ashes and
complete darkness, which began on the
26th of June, at 8 o'clock in the after
noon. At Machache and other places
the night lasted for thirty consecutive
hours. In the midst of this Opaque
gloom one could hear the believing of
the cattle and the cries of other animals,
who, deprived of their usual food by the
shower of ashes, sought, in species OF
frenzy, for the means of satisfying their
hunger. Other beasts, frantic with ter
ror, careered hither and thither as it in
despair, and the piteous bowling of the
dogs pierced the ear with its ominous
sound. In Quito the darkness was as
that of night; it was like that described
by the younger Pliny in letter to Taci.
tus. in which he relates the eruption OF
Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii.
"It was" he says, cas- if the lights in the
room had been extinguished." AtQuito
the shower at first was of course heavy
sand, which subsequently turned into
ashes SO fine and impalpable that they
penetrated not only into apartments, but
into the most carefully closed receptacles:
In the depth of the darkness, men and
women, Drawing the rain of ashes, sailed
forth into the streets, screening them
selves with umbrellas and lighting their
way with lanterns, and all the while these
strange apparitions rent the air with their
cries and prayers for mercy. The UNI
brellas, as we'll as the green eyeglasses
used here op journeys, were no supertiu,
GUS precaution, although they afforded
but scant protection against the subtle
powder, which it was remembered had IN
many cases produced blindness during
the eruption of 1S43, and the rain Of
ashes of thirty hours that then attended
it.
sUpERsT1TIoUs FRENZY OF THE PEOPLE.
From the outset the people had unani-
mously ascribed the disaster to chastise-
ment of heaven, brought down by the
irreligion of the government, which had
arbitrarily closed the churches and de-
prived the people of those spiritual con-
solations that were made doubly necessa-
nv by the sad condition of things in gen
eral. The idea of divine punishment
spread like wild-fire. and as the tempest
ragged more wildly this conviction gath.
cred intensity, until at last groups of
men, without leader, without any con-
certed plan, and without arms, threw
themselves upon the guard at the military
hospital, while others attacked the guard
stationed at the powder magazine on the
hill of Javira. There were but few
troops in the garrison, the greater part
having been sent to suppress the insur-
rection in Imbabura; but the assailants,
lacking arms and direction, were prompt
ly overpowered, with no further loss than
that of two soldiers and two citizens.
On the day following, before the city had
recovered from its CONSERVATION, and
while clouds of ashes still lowered in the
air and pervaded the streets, five Of the
unhappy prisoners who had been taken
during the tumult, suffered the barbarous
punishment of FIVE hundred lashes;-
Some have died in consequence. The
fact needs no comment. A number OF
respectable citizens have been arrested
and are to be subjected to a eourt,nar'lal;
In the present wretched co'r!ii III OF
Ecuador, ruined as it is by series OF
disasters, the recent eruption is the cul.
mination of it's woes. Ten year. a; peace
and prosperity, Of which therc, is IAint
prospect now, will not suffice to repair
the evils which few hours have wrought
in this unfortunate land.