litters, and mules and muleteers, in the extent of the pass called Salinas de Guaura. But the most affecting of all the sights was presented by the shore, along which the sea was constantly throwing up dead bodies on every successive wave. There also were seen fragments of dead bodies, which the terrible action of the sea, and the materials commingling with the waters, had separated in the most shocking manner. Of the twenty-three ships, large and small, which were anchored in the port, there were foundered nineteen; and as they were driven over the town, their anchors caught in the houses, dragging parts of them along to where all were dashed to pieces, far up the road to Lima! The ships-of-war San Fermin, el San Antonio, el Michelot, and the Succoro, shared the general fate! The spot to which the San Fermin was driven is pointed out at the present day, and is designated by the erection of a cross, a little to the right of the road which leads to Lima, and about half a mile from the beach! By inspecting the records of that period it has been ascertained, that on the same night, and but a short time before the shock was felt in Lima and Callao, the sea rose and extended in about six hundred yards from its usual boundary at Conception, latitude 37° south, in Chili. A few days before this, a hot and scorching wind was felt in Santiago, which seemed to wither and consume every thing over which it passed. What a field is here presented for philosophical speculation! Is the whole range of South America, west of the Andes, resting on and slumbering over unfathomable caverns of combustible materials? And are not these connected beneath ?-or how else could they communicate with each other, with almost the same rapidity that sound passes through the air? It has been ascertained, that the phenomena of earthquakes are more frequent between the spring and summer; and that when they do happen during other portions of the year, they are most frequent in autumn. The hours are generally those of darkness; two or three hours after sunset; or at the close of the zodiacal light; but perhaps more frequently about the first dawn of day. The direction which earthquakes pursue is from south to north, along the chains of the Cordilleras. Mournful experience has shown, that the most violent concussions occur after an interval of about half a century, in that region included between the equator and the tropic of Capricorn; and which seem to follow a certain order, from the extremes to the centre. These are the periods which have marked the great earthquakes experienced since the conquest of Quito, Ariquipa, and Lima. The fatal period had arrived at the end of the last century; and Ariquipa and the provinces of Quito were laid in ruins. Lima had passed the fatal period which nature appears to have established, but suffered in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-eight. The great earthquakes have generally been preceded by copious rains; the earth becoming saturated, the water penetrates into the interior. Hot days succeeding to these wet ones, necessarily form an enormous quantity of vapour, which, not being able to escape, or become rarefied beneath the surface of the globe, is exposed to the electric shock, or to become ignited from the volcanoes; when, acquiring greater expansion, it produces those violent convulsions of the earth, which in their effects are so terrific. Obscure exhalations rise from the earth at night, clothing the heavens and the stars with the most sombre pall! The frequency of the earthquakes in the spring is deemed a good sign; as it shows the combustibles beneath are wasting their strength by degrees. But if these concussions are very frequent, following each other in quick succession, they indicate a large quantity of combustible matter, from which a violent shock may at any moment be expected. Vegetation suffers much in these gloomy epochs. The earthquake of sixteen hundred and seventy-eight rendered an immense proportion of the soil of Peru incapable of producing wheat. The stalks grew luxuriantly until the head began to form, when the grains became affected with rust, which converted the substance into a black powder, and the crop was destroyed. Twenty years did not restore the soil to its former productiveness. Indeed, the injury to the agriculture of the country was fatal. In this scarcity, recourse was had to Chili for wheat, and that country soon became the Sicily of Peru, to the destruction of its own agricultural interests! We have devoted a long chapter to the earthquake of seventeen hundred and forty-six. The subject seemed to us as one of great interest, in which the reader cannot fail to participate with us, when he reflects that our goodly frigate now lay at anchor in the same port where the catastrophe occurred; that here "the sure and firm set earth" reeled to and fro as a drunken man; that the waters of the great deep burst from their limits, overwhelming and destroying a whole people, whose ruined edifices still lie partially visible, amid heaps of sand, over which we have often walked; and that, though tranquil now, no human being can foresee, or human power prevent, at any moment, the recurrence of another and similar tragedy; that here, among a people not devoid of superstition, as the anniversary of the twenty-eighth of October rolls round, a numerous procession moves through the streets of Callao, bearing and escorting the image of old Neptune, as figured by mythologists, with a long and flowing beard, a crown on his head, enriched and bespangled with the gems of the ocean, the three-forked sceptre in his hand, and supported on each side by a Triton, bearing anchors in theirs. Moving along, to the animating strains of music, this pageantry attracts universal attention, and formerly excited the most thrilling interest. The house-tops are lined with spectators, who cannot avoid the reflection, that over other edifices of equal elevation, on that day eighty-odd years ago, had passed heavy men-of-war, borne on the swelling surges of the ocean! The procession moves to the water's edge, and the old sea-god is made to smite the ocean with his trident; while the Most High, "who holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand," is implored never to permit the ocean again to pass beyond its present bounds! Turn we again to our goodly ship, which had now been completely overhauled and painted anew. The Falmouth had been despatched to the ports of the north, and the Dolphin was actively employed. The interests of the station required the presence of the commodore in Valparaiso; and on the fifteenth of March, the Potomac lay snugly at anchor in that port. On our return to the north we made Coquimbo in the way, where we lay more than a month in quarantine, all hands being inoculated with the smallpox.* The commodore during this time remained at Coquimbo, a town founded by Valdivia, in fifteen hundred and forty-four, and about three leagues from the port. The purser, Slacum, also remained on shore, to look out for the fresh provisions of the ship; which was now canopied with an awning, the decks sanded, and in all respects turned into a great fighting hospital. The port of Coquimbo, in latitude 30° south, longitude 71° 16′ west, is among the very best on the coast; the water shoaling gradually, so that anchorage may be selected at pleasure on the southwest side. The hills around are barren and rocky, while to the east, the towering snow-crowned Andes overlook the whole country. For three years had this province suffered with drought; vegetation had dried up, and the loss of animals had been immense. But while we lay here, the aerial cisterns were opened, and the rain descended in torrents. Numerous bonfires soon proclaimed the joy of the inhabitants, and shouts of gratitude were heard from every side, for the good that had been showered upon them. Vegetation, with astonishing rapidity, sprang up, and the hills and surrounding country were soon re-clothed in green. Leaving Coquimbo on the ninth, we arrived at Callao on the fifteenth July. Between the commanders and officers of the English and French men-of-war, such interchange of civilities took place as should always mark the intercourse of free nations, who, in spite of national predilection, have in truth so much cause to respect each other. The time had now come for the return of the Falmouth to the United States; and Captain Gregory having received his orders on this point from the commodore, and the Dolphin being stationed in the port to look out for our interests during the present disturbed state of Peru, on the twenty-second of August we set sail for the ports of the north, intending to go as far as the Galapagos Islands, making Payta in our way. * See Report of Dr. Foltz-Appendix. CHAPTER XXVII. Galapagos Islands-Charles's Island, or La Floriana-Governor Vilamil's Colony -Its origin and advance-Description of the island-Its productions-Pure and wholesome water-Prohibition of spirituous liquors-Fowls, terapins, &c.Climate and temperature-Abuses connected with our whale-fisheries-Improvements and reforms suggested. ON Monday, the twenty-sixth of August, we sailed from Payta for the Galapagos, and arrived at Charles's Island on the thirtyfirst. We came to anchor in Essex Bay, on the north end of the island, a place rendered somewhat famous as the anchorage of the old Essex, Commodore Porter, during the late war with Great Britain. Commodore Downes was then first lieutenant of that frigate, but commanded an armed prize, called the Essex, junior, during Porter's glorious but unfortunate action with the Phoebe and Cherub. We remained at Charles's Island, which the new colonists call La Floriana, for the period of ten or twelve days; and every one on board was agreeably disappointed with the visit. During the frigate's stay, we passed the time very pleasantly at the residence of Governor J. Vilamil, a native of Louisiana, in the United States, but for many years a resident of Guayaquil. Believing that some account of this infant establishment may be interesting to the reader, we shall particularly allude to it, in a very short and hasty description of the Galapagos Islands. This, in some respects, interesting group, which comprises a large number of small islands, is situated nearly under the equator, between the eighty-ninth and ninety-second degrees of west longitude-about two hundred and forty leagues west of the American continent. A majority of these islands are situated a little south of the equinoctial line, though a few scattering islands are found north of it. Albemarle Island, which is the largest of the cluster, is more than seventy miles in length, and stretches north and south, with an eastern coast that is nearly straight; but its western side is deeply concave, embracing the volcanic Island |