THE LATE EARTHQUAKE IN PERU. ITS EFFECT IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Oamaru Times, 6th October.)

North Otago Times, Volume XI, Issue 359, 30 October 1868, Page 3

THE LATE EARTHQUAKE IN PERU. ITS EFFECT IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Oamaru Times, 6th October.)

he accounts of the earthq\iake in South America, received by the Panama Mail, are omething appalling to read, and tell of a earful destruction only approached by that aused by the celebrated earthquake at Lis)6n. Far distant from the scene of this treaendous crash of cities, however awed by he perusal of the details, we can form but a r ery faint idea of, the feelings of those who vere eye-witnesses of the terrible desolation vhich was caused in a few moments of time >y this sudden putting forth of the mighty brces of nature. A letter contributed to the "Panama herald," and from which an extract appeared n our telegraphic . summary of last issue, vritten by a citizen of Arica who, providentially escaped with his wife and family to the lills, graphically pictures, so far as hximan language can describe so tremendous a catastrophe, the sudden and mighty ruin caused ay .the earthquake and earthquake wave. Since the day when Lot's wife gazed down iom the mountain upon the whelming of the jities of the plain in that terrible storm of fire md brimstone, human eyes have not gazed ipon a more awful sce,ne than was spread out 3efore those who escaped to the hills from ihe falling cities of Peru. The fearful 3haking of the trembling earth, which ' reeled to and fro as a drunken man," the ailing houses, the volumes of noxious vadout belched forth from the subterranean ires, the retiring sea, the enormous wave rolling in, a mighty wall like that which Duried Pharoah and his host, carrying with xn. awful velocity on its resistless tide numbers of large vessels on — on — over what was hou* before a smiling land, and mingling in the chaos of one general destruction the debris of stately public buildings, the ruins of hundi-eds of homes, the wrecks of vessels, and tha bodies of perishing thousands, must have combined to form a spectacle which language cannot picture and which the imagination utterly fails to grasp. On the receipt of our files we shall doubtless be able to form some idea of the number of lives lost and the value of the property destroyed, though full particulars and an accurate computation will probably have to be waited for until the arrival of the next Panama mail. As it is, a sufficiently direful list is given. Ten cities and seaport towns are stated to be totally destroyed, viz., Cerro de' Pasco, Moliendo, Iquique, Mexilloaes, Pisagua, Arica, Ilo, Chala, Arguipa, Moquegua, and all the cities of the Province of Huancavelica and a small town near Islay ; Tacna, another large city, escaping with the loss of sixty houses. A rough computation of the loss of property is given, the estimate being 300,000,000 dollars, equal to abotit £62,000,000 sterling ; but as to the loss of life, we are left to inference only, the number being broadly stated as " thousands." We do know, however, that in a small town near Megia only twenty escaped of 500 inhabitants, and if the destruction in the cities referred to as being in ruins has been ia anything like similar proportion to their populations, dire indeed will be the bill of death. The population of Arequipa was in 1862, 36,800 ; of Cerro de Pasco, 12,800; of Arica, 10,000 ; of Tacna, 9700 ; and of Huancavelica (the city), 5200, so that, including that of ihe other places named, not less than 100,000 souls were within the sphere of the catastrophe, the dwellings of nearly all of whom have been certainly destroyed, and a large proportion of whom it is to be feared have perished. A few particulars gathered from a standard work, with reference to the seat of the recent distiu-bance, may be here in place. The great chain of the Andes, which passes through both Ecuador and Peru, has among its towering peaks several extinct volcanoes, and one or two which, are still the vents of the subterranean fires. Of these the largest, Cotopaxi, lifts its head to the height of 18,889 feet, its sides for several thousand feet being covered with perpetual snow. The diameter of its crater, which is surmounted by a circular wall or parapet, is 258 feet, and in a tremendous eruption that occurred in A. D. 173S, the volume of flame rose to the height of neai-ly three thousand feet above the brink of the crater. Cotopaxi has been in full activity several times since that date, and in a.d. 1744 the roaring of the volcano could be heard at a distance of 600 miles ; in 1803, so great was the heat, that the mantle of snow melted from off its sides, and the voice of its furnace was heard at Guayaquil, distant 156 miles. Terrible earthquakes have been felt at Lima in 1586, 1630, 1687, 1746, and 1848 ; and Arequipa, now in ruins, has been six times prevkmsly destroyed. This last was the second city of the republic of Peru, and is, or was, situated on the river Chila, within ten miles of a volcano of the same name, and is described as having been one of the best built and most beautiful cities of South America. It is fortunate for mankind that the fiery sea which is supposed to underlie the thin crust upon which we live, is providqd with — so to speak — sluice-gates at which to discharge its superflux, as otherwise the earth's whole surface might every no-w-and then be torn and twisted in a manner which would render it an exceedingly uncomfortable dwelling-place, but it does Seem matter for regret that after repeated warnings of tins nature men should persist in selecting the neighborhood of volcanic outlets for the building of cities, at any rate so long as there is plenty of room in the earth for millions of population elsewhere. This tremendous volcanic disturbance fully accounts for the marine phenomena noticed in New Zealand and Atistralasia generally on the 15th of August last, and there is one circumstance in connection with Cotopaxi, which is situated in the very centre -of influence of the recent earthquakes (to judge from the accounts to hand) which deserves notice, viz., that it appears to have some connection with the waters of the ocean, having frequently been known to discharge immense quantities of mud containing so prodigious a number of small fish, from two to four inches long, as sometimes to infect the air. This throws some light upon the tremendous effect upon the ocean produced by the recent volcanic distur-

bance. It would indeed appear probable that the seat of the energy of the volcano was at some point under the bed of the sea, hence the enormous wave, which is said to have risen to the height of 50 feet, and the impulsion of which was felt in New Zealand on the morning of the 15th August, about 48 hours, or, allowing for the difference in time, 36 hours after the commencement of the eai*th1 quake in Peru. Reckoning the distance at, in round numbers, 7000" miles, this' would give a rate of speed of nearly 200 miles per hour. It, however, must of course be borne in mind, that had the force exerted been applied to a solid mass of matter, it Ythat to which the force was applied) would have been moved forward at once, and the effect-would have been felt at one extremity as-soon as the motive power was applied at the'-othei* and that it was only the yielding nature a liquid body which prevented the effect being felt instantaneously at its utmost limit. It is, ' therefore, incoi-rect to speak of the effect of the earthquake upon the ocean at the point of action and at the distant point, as if we were speaking of the travelling of a body from one place to another. The effect produced was, we apprehend, not so much that of the travelling of a wave above the surface of the ocean in a given direction as the movement of the whole mass of water in that direction, and we imagine the interval of time between the occurrence at Peru, and the effect in New Zealand, would be in direct ratio to the yielding nature of the material to which the motive power was applied. The eai-thquake itself appears, from the telegram, to> have travelled at the rate of 870 miles an hour the interval of time between its occurrence at Ohala and at Islay, a distance of 145 miles, being stated at ten minutes. It is noteworthy that during the past year the principal volcanoes of the earth have been in a state of unusual activity ; Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich Islands, "Vesuvius and Hecla having each been in eruption. "We have not seen it stated that Cotopaxi has shown any activity recently, and indeed such occurences as have taken place in South America, usually follow a period during which the volcanic agency appears to be at rest, — perhaps because the pent-up gases unable to find vent, gather strength, and exert, so to speak, their acumulated forces. There are several other items of news in the budget under notice, which, although of a less startling character, deserve attention, but having already reached the limit of our space, we shall recur to them in our next.