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had been raised by falling buildings, began to disperse ;
people breathed more freely, and dared to look around them.
Ghastly and sepulchral vvas the sight. Had the graves opened
and given up their dead, their appearance could scarcely have
been more shocking. Pale and trembling, covered with dust and
perspiration, they ran from place to place, calling for relations
and friends; and many seemed to be quite bereft of reason.
Considerable shocks continued to harass and alarm at short
intervals. The earth was never long quiet during that or
the next day, nor indeed for the three days following the
great shock; and during many hours after the ruin, it was
tremulous, and the shocks were very frequent, though not
severe. Many of these, but not all, were preceded by a rumbling,
subterranean noise, like distant thunder. Some compared the
sound to the distant discharge of many pieces of artillery.
These noises came from the south-west quarter, and preceded
the shock by one or two seconds; sometimes, but not often,
the sound was unaccompanied by any shock.
I t was the general opinion that the motion was from southwest
to north-east. Some whole walls, whose direction was
south-east and north-west, were laid flat, the bricks still maintaining
their relative position, though end-wise, without being
scattered upon the ground. These walls fell, without exception,
to the north-east.* Others were scattered as they fell;
but still the greatest masses of brick-work were thrown towards
the north-east. Walls standing in the opposite direction, northeast
and south-west, suffered far less; none fell bodily or in
masses; fragments were shaken or torn off; and some of the
walls were very much cracked,! but others suffered little.
Houses built of ‘ adobes,’] became confused heaps, and roofs feU
in every where. The cathedral, whose walls were four feet in
thickness, supported by great buttresses, and built of good
brick and mortar,§ suffered more than other buildings. Ad-
* The streets of Concepcion lie north-east and south-west: northwest
and south-east.
t Vertically, as if by the undulatory movement of the earth’s surface in
the direction of their length. { Large unbaked bricks.
§ Both bricks and mortar were excellent.