It was interesting to watch the effect of this trifling amount of
moisture. Twelve hours afterwards the ground appeared as dry as
ever; yet after an interval of ten days all the hills were faintly
tinged with green patches; the grass being sparingly scattered in
hair-like fibres a full inch in length. Before this shower every
part of the surface was bare as on a high-road.
(PLATE 77. COQUIMBO, CHILE.)
In the evening, Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining with Mr.
Edwards, an English resident well known for his hospitality by all
who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp earthquake happened. I
heard the forecoming rumble, but from the screams of the ladies,
the running of the servants, and the rush of several of the
gentlemen to the doorway, I could not distinguish the motion. Some
of the women afterwards were crying with terror, and one gentleman
said he should not be able to sleep all night, or if he did, it
would only be to dream of falling houses. The father of this person
had lately lost all his property at Talcahuano, and he himself had
only just escaped a falling roof at Valparaiso in 1822. He
mentioned a curious coincidence which then happened: he was playing
at cards, when a German, one of the party, got up, and said he
would never sit in a room in these countries with the door shut,
as, owing to his having done so, he had nearly lost his life at
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