The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-09-21
ONE THOUSAND LIVES LOST.
CotopaxPs Latest Eruption-Darkness and
Dismay-The Inca Ruins Destroyed.

Dismay-The Inca Ruins Destroyed.
[Quito Letter to the New York Nation.l
The eruption took place on the Goth OF
June, with every circumstance that could
increase its horror-utter darkness in
the 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 cataract ten times
the .ulk Of Niagara, which carried all
before it in its headlong course, and sub
merged the whole surrounding country.
The torrent divided itself in two opposite
directions, as if to give greater scope to
its devastation and to make the confusion
still more dire. One branch took a
southerly course toward the city of Lata-
cunga, situated twelve miles from Coto-
paxi.
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
Humboldt and all other travellers through
the central valleys of the equatorial
Andes, have escaped the ravages of the
liOOt. 4Nthl IOT-
rent tore up from its very foundations
the cotton factory of Don Jose Villa
gomez, whose value was estimated at
$500, 900; crops, cattle, buildings were
swept away; the massive bridges of Gu
tuche and Pansalvo were destroyed, as
well as a part of the fine carriage road
(scarce equaled even in Europe) which
connects Quito with the towns in the
south of the republic.
The branch that headed toward the
south of Cotopaxi devastated the pros
porous and enchanting valley of Chillo,
and in particular the estate of the Senores
Aguirre, noted for having been the resi-
dence of Humboldt. There, too, as in
Latacunga, arose the buildings of a
thriving factory, which only the year be-
fore had been destroyed by fire, and had
Just been repaired at great expense. The
torrent rooted it from the ground, and
bore it away in thousand fragments.
1t is asserted that mill of Don Manuel
Palacios fioated on the water like ship
at sea until shattered by the current.
The loss in the valley of Chillo alone is
estimated at over 50, 900, 900, and the
loss in other sections is equally great.
| IL 10 lhGNlbt blldU lllt
of the dead exceeds 1000.
A third cataract took an easterly direc-
ton, destroying the bridge of Palate, and
doing grievous injury to the estates in
that neighborhood, of which the most
important is celebrated for its fine wine,
well known as "Vino de Patate."
Although the surroundings of Quito
have been laid waste. the city itself suf-
| fered from only rain of ashes and a
complete darkness, which began on the
Goth of June, at in the afternoon. At
Machache and other places the night
lasted for thirty consecutive hours. In
the midst of this Opaque gloom one could
hear she 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 the means
of satisfying their hunger. Other beasts
frantic with terror, careered hither and
thither as if in despair, and the piteous
bowling of the dogs pierced the air with
its ominous sound. In Quito the dark
ness was not as that of night; it was like
that described by the younger Pliny in
the eruption of Vesuvius and the de-
suruct1Ou Oh IOunpeH. LII WIS, he
says, Gas if the lights in room had
been extinguished. At Quito the
shower at first was of coarse, heavy sand,
which suddenly 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 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
superfuous 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 1843, and the rain
of ashes of thirty hours that attended it.