The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-03-27
Unstable Earth-Crust.

a writer from San Salvador. Centra
America, says on the evening of the 19tl
of December, little after 8, we felt ,
slight trembling Of our adobe house. The
looking glasses and pictures ratified slight,
against the walls, and ever and anon {
creaking sound like the rattle of a far-of]
thunder storm would make itself heard,
The shocks continued all night. increasing
gradually hour by hour. The oldest mia.
Dltants, whose memories rctaiucd the viviC
impressions caused by similar experiences
began TO look anxious and scared. Tho
trembling, rocking motion of staid old terrq
flrma continued all the next day and the
next. On the third day it grew 80 violent
That the inhabitants, high and low, rich
ana poor, began to move ont of the houses
and pitch their tents out of town. We did
not understand why the natives who lived
III bamboo huts should abandon these
homes also, as we would not imagine how
the strongest earthquake could uproot these
bamboo poles. BY this time the population
Iad become panic-strickcn. They ran
barchcadcd and barcfootcd about the
streets, hardly knowing enough to keep
out OF the way of falling bricks, but never
neglccting TO make all kinds Of possible and
impossible vows to their patron saints. No
BODY thought of sleeping. The ground
rocked and swaycd fcarfully, so that on
the fourth day there was not house where
there remained one square foot of plaster
on the walls. Everything that could brcal,
did hr"ak; things kept Oil tumbiing down
and falling to pieces, rs if some unseen
nand was ruthlcssly tearing down every
thing that was not welded with bands of
lron The town was entirely deserted, OK
cept by those who were buried under the
falling ruins. This kept on for over a week.
On The 27tn nows was received that tho
earthquake had absolutely demolished two
villages, containing, perhaps, u population
or l,ooo each. These villages were situat-
Ell about nine miles from San Salvador,
near tho Lake OF llodngo Not a hut was
ielt whlch might have sheltercd single
lahlly. In Guatemala about twenty houses
were laid low, among those the large build
ing called the palace, in the center of the
park. After the 29th the shocks decreased
III severity, although they still continued
ior a long while The city Of Guatemala
lies between two extinct volcanoes, and
very near lake, which is also al extinct
crater. The old Indian traditions have
named it The "Vailoy Of the Hammock, y
because it IS always swinging. Santa Ana,
CITY hardly'twcnty leagues from Salvador,
Is never moved, while San Salvador is des-
troycd regularly every twenty years. The
CITY has always been rebuilt in the same
way, Out this time Dr. Salvidcr, the Prcsl-
uent OF the Republic, Is intent upon re-
puildlng on the American plan. There are
thrco distinct motions or>kinds of shocks in
l Inc earthquakes which visit this region.
Inc most common one is called the strcm- |
blor" and Is the wave motion, similar to
the one which in days hardly forgotten has
vislea Gaf9rnn The s is k lpbd Il ds
snocKs are CIRCULAR The third and last Is
called 'ratumlio''; it feels as if the gcound
received terrible blow, right from the |
centre of the earth upward, and Is the |
most destructive, and accordingly feared !
the most. Each manipulation is accom-
panied by its own peculiar noise. w. A.
Goodycar, surveyor in tho employ of the
Government, reported that tho two villages
mentioned above were destroyed by the
''remolina." The earth cracked and foam
ing water spurtcd out of the ground. The
huts and houses tumbled all ono way, as if |
they were mown down by al immense
sickle. a peculiar effect of the shocks is
that they drive everything out of the
ground, even the light bamboo poles which
support the thatchcd cottages Of the natives,
visited three villages afterward, and found
that the atmosphere was impregnatcd to a
very high degree with sulphur The earth
quake shocks seem to be confined to certain
narrow limits. In Port La Libertad, al
though they were felt, they were not strong
enough to crack oven tho plaster This
place is only twenty miles from the centre
Of the earthquake region. The volcano at |
Yalko, where the shocks were strongest,
emitted huge Volumes of steam, smoke and |
vollcys of rocks. There was however, but |
4 small flow Of lava. The average number
Of shocks per hour during period of more
Than two weeks. was three, and one day |
when they were most violent, there was a |
Lotal of ninctythrec. No idea can be |
formed of the loss Of life which attended |
The phenomenon.