There was formerly near the port of Pisca, in Peru, a famous city, situate on the sea shore, which was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake that happened the 19th of October 1682, for the sea having extended beyond its common bounds, swallowed up this unfortunate place with every person that was in it.
If we consult historians and travellers, we shall find relations of many earthquakes and eruptions of volcanos, whose effects have been as terrible as those we have just mentioned. Pesidonius, whom Strabo quotes in his first book, relates, that a city in Phœnicia, near Sidon, was swallowed up by an earthquake, with the neighbouring territory, and even two thirds of Sidon; this effect was not so sudden but that many of the inhabitants had time to avoid it by flight. This shock extended throughout all Syria, and as far as the Cyclade islands, and into Eubœa, where the fountains of Arethusa suddenly stopped, and did not reappear for many days after, and then by many new springs remote from the old ones; that this earthquake did not cease from shaking the island, sometimes in one part and sometimes in another, until the earth opened in the valley of Lepanta, and ejected a great quantity of lava and other inflamed matters. Pliny, in his first book, chap. 84, relates, that in the reign of Tiberius an earthquake happened which overthrew twelve towns in Asia: and in his second book he mentions a prodigy caused by an earthquake. St. Augustin records, that by a great earthquake there were towns overthrown in Lybia. In the time of Trajan, the town of Antioch, and a great part of the adjacent country were swallowed up by an earthquake; and in the time of Justinian, in 528, it was a second time destroyed by the same cause, with upwards of 40,000 of its inhabitants. Sixty years after, in the time of St. Gregory, it felt the effects of a third earthquake, when 60,000 of its inhabitants perished. In the time of Saladin, in 1182, most of the towns of Syria and Judea were destroyed by the same calamity. In Calabria and Apulia, there have been more earthquakes than in any other part of Europe. In the time of Pope Pius II. all the churches and palaces of Naples were overthrown, and above 30,000 of its inhabitants killed; the remainder were obliged to live in tents till houses were built. In 1629, there were earthquakes in Apulia, which destroyed 7000 persons, and in 1638, the town of St. Euphemia was swallowed up, and there remains only a stinking lake in its place. Ragusa and Smyrna, at the same time, were also almost destroyed. There was an earthquake in 1692, which extended into England, Holland, Flanders, Germany, and France; it was chiefly felt on the sea coasts and near large rivers; it shook at least 2600 square leagues; it lasted only two minutes, and the motion was more considerable on mountains than in vallies.[O] On the 10th of July, 1688, there was an earthquake at Smyrna, which began by a motion from west to east; the castle was at first overthrown, its four walls being divided and sunk six feet in the sea; this castle stood upon an isthmus, but is at present a real island, about 100 paces distant from the land. The walls from east to west are fallen down, those from north to south are yet standing; the city, which is ten miles from the castle, was destroyed shortly after; in many places the earth opened, and subterraneous noises were heard; five or six shocks were felt as night came on, the last continued only half a minute; the ships in the roads were shaken; the ground of the town was lowered about two feet; not above a quarter of the town withstood the shock, and those principally the houses which stood on rocks; from 15 to 20,000 persons are computed to have been buried under the ruins.[P] In 1695, an earthquake was felt at Bologna, in Italy, and it was remarked as a particular circumstance, that the water was much troubled a day before.[Q][R]
[O] See Ray's Discourses, page 272.
[P] See the Hist. of the Acad. des Sciences, anno 1688.
[Q] Ibid. anno 1696.
[R] See the Voyages of Mandelso.
At Tercera there happened an earthquake on the 4th of May, 1614, which overthrew in the town of Angra eleven churches and nine chapels, besides private houses; and in the town of Praya it was so terrible, that scarcely an house was left standing. On the 16th of June 1628, there was an earthquake in the island of St. Michael, the effects of which was so great, that in a place where the sea was more than 150 fathoms deep an island was thrown up more than a league and a half long, and upwards of 60 fathoms high. Another happened in 1691, in the island of St. Michael, which began the 6th of July, and lasted till the 12th of the following month: Tercera and Fayal were agitated the next morning with so much violence, that they appeared to move; but these frightful shocks returned there only four times, whereas at St. Michael they did not cease a moment for several days. The islanders quitted their houses, which they saw fall before their eyes, and remained all the time in the fields exposed to the injuries of the weather. The whole town of Villa Franca was overthrown to its very foundation, and most of the inhabitants buried under its ruins. In many parts the plains rose into hills, and in others, mountains were flattened into vallies. A spring of water issued from the earth, which flowed for four days, and then ceased all on a sudden. The air and sea, still more agitated, resounded with a noise which might have been taken for the roaring of a number of wild animals. Many persons died with the fright; the ships in the harbour suffered dangerous shocks, and those which were at anchor, or under sail at 20 leagues distant from the islands, received great damage. Earthquakes are frequent in the Azores, and about twenty years before a mountain in St. Michael was overturned by one of them.[S]
[S] Hist. of Voyages.
In Manilla, in the month of September, 1627, an earthquake levelled one of the two mountains called Carvallos, in the province of Cagayon; in 1645, one third of the town was destroyed by a like accident, and 300 persons perished. The succeeding year it experienced another; and the ancient Indians say they were more terrible formerly, which was the reason they build their houses only of wood; a custom still continued, and which the Spaniards follow.[T]
[T] See le Voyage de Gemelli Careri, page 120.