The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-09-20
ONE THOUSAND LIVES LOST.
cororAxI's LATEST ERUprroN :
DARKNESS AND DIsMAy-THEIN-
CA RUINS DEsTRoYED.
From the Nation,

l.
From the Nation. AZ . VI ~ W
QUITO, July 4.-The eruption took
place on the 10th Of June, with every
circumstance that could increase ia
norror--utter darkness I'm the broad
day, thuuder, and lightning. fearful
experimenting made theearth tremble.
subterra1ean noises and wild gusts OF
wind, aot0mpAniedl by q rain Of ashes.
A4jeTH witness told me that the vol
cano poured out q cataract ten times
the bulk OF Niagara, which carried all
before 1t In its headlong course, and
|snbmerged the whole surrounding
country. The torrent divided itself
into two opposite directions, as IL to
give greater scope to its devastation
anu to make the confusion still more
dire. One branch took q southerly
course toward the city Of Latacunga,
situated twelve miles from Cotopaxi.
On It's way the torrent converted the
pain OF Calloa into an immense lake.
Inere Is but faint hope that the ruins
0I the palace OF the Incas, described by
humboldt and 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 foupda-
tons the cotton factory OF Jose Vaila-
GOMEZ, whose value was estimated at
$3O0, 900; crops, cattle, buildings were
swept away; the massive bridges of
Oatucne and Pansalvo were destroyed,
as wen rs part of the fine carriage
ROAD scarce equalled even in EurOpe)
wnicn connects Quito with the towns
In the south Of the Republic.
The branch that headed toward the
south of COtopaxi devastated the pros
perousand enchanting valley of Chillo.
and in particular the estate OF the
Senores Aguirre, noted for having been
the residence of Humboldt. There,
TOO, as in Latacunga, arose the build
ings Of thriving factory, which, only
the year before, had been destroyed by
1re, and had just been repaired at
great expense. The torrent rooted it
from the ground, and bore it away i'm
q thousand fragments. 1t is asserted
that mill Of Don Manuel Palacioa
noated on the water like ship at sea
unit! scattered by the current. The
loss In the valley of Chillo alone is es-
timated at over two millions of dollars,
ana the loss In other sections is equally
great. 1t Is likewise calculated that
the number of the dead exceeds one
thousand. go. h
A third cataract took an. easterly di-
rection, destroying the bridge Of Pa
tate, and doing grievous injury to the
estates In that eighborhOod, of which
the most important is celebrated for its
fine wine, well known as "Vino de
Palate. - ~ oE s.t t
Although the surroundings of Quito
have been laid waste, the city itself has
suffered from only a rain Of ashes and
a complete darkness, which began on
the Goth OF June, at three 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 ami
mails, who, deprived of their usual food
by the shower of ashes, sought in
species of frenzy for the means Of sat
isfying their hunger Other beasts,
frantic with terror, careered hither and
thither, as II in despair, and the piteous
bowling of the dogs pierced the air
with its ominOus sound. In Quito the
darkness was not that Of night 1t was
like that described by the younger
Pliny in a letter to Tacitus, in which
he relates the eruption of Vesuvius and
the destruction of Pompeii. ut was"
he says, 'as If the lights i'm room had
shower at first was of coarse, heavy
been extingished." At Quito the
sand, which subsequently turned into
ashes SO fine and impalpable that they
penetrated not only into apartments,
but into the most carefully closed re.
ceptacles. In the depth of the dark
ness, men and women, Drawing the
rain Of ashes, sailed forth into the
streets, screening themselves 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
umbrellas, as well as the green eye
glasses used here on journeys, were no
superfiuous precautiOn, although they
afforded but scant protection against
the subtle powder, which it was re-
membered had in many cases produc-
ed blindness during the eruption of
1843, and the rain of ashes of thirty
hours that attended It..