On the mainland near Lima, and on the neighboring island of San Lorenzo, Mr. Darwin found proofs that the ancient bed of the sea had been raised to the height of more than eighty feet above water within the human epoch, strata having been discovered at that altitude, containing pieces of cotton thread and plaited rush, together with sea-weed and marine shells.[699] The same author learnt from Mr. Gill, a civil engineer, that he discovered in the interior near Lima, between Casma and Huaraz, the dried-up channel of a large river, sometimes worn through solid rock, which, instead of continually ascending towards its source, has, in one place, a steep downward slope in that direction, for a ridge or line of hills has been uplifted directly across the bed of the stream, which is now arched. By these changes the water has been turned into some other course; and a district, once fertile, and still covered with ruins, and bearing the marks of ancient cultivation, has been converted into a desert.[700]
Java, 1699.—On the 5th of January, 1699, a terrible earthquake visited Java, and no less than 208 considerable shocks were reckoned. Many houses in Batavia were overturned, and the flame and noise of a volcanic eruption were seen and heard in that city, which were afterwards found to proceed from Mount Salek,[701] a volcano six days' journey distant. Next morning the Batavian river, which has its rise from that mountain, became very high and muddy, and brought down abundance of bushes and trees, half burnt. The channel of the river being stopped up, the water overflowed the country round the gardens about the town, and some of the streets, so that fishes lay dead in them. All the fish in the river, except the carps, were killed by the mud and turbid water. A great number of drowned buffaloes, tigers, rhinoceroses, deer, apes, and other wild beasts, were brought down by the current; and, "notwithstanding," observes one of the writers, "that a crocodile is amphibious, several of them were found dead among the rest."[702]
It is stated that seven hills bounding the river sank down; by which is merely meant, as by similar expressions in the description of the Calabrian earthquakes, seven great landslips. These hills, descending some from one side of the valley and some from the other, filled the channel, and the waters then finding their way under the mass, flowed out thick and muddy. The Tangaran river was also dammed up by nine hills, and in its channel were large quantities of drift trees. Seven of its tributaries also are said to have been "covered up with earth." A high tract of forest land, between the two great rivers before mentioned, is described as having been changed into an open country, destitute of trees, the surface being spread over with fine red clay. This part of the account may, perhaps, merely refer to the sliding down of woody tracts into the valleys, as happened to so many extensive vineyards and olive-grounds in Calabria, in 1783. The close packing of large trees in the Batavian river is represented as very remarkable, and it attests in a striking manner the destruction of soil bordering the valleys which had been caused by floods and landslips.[703]
Quito, 1698.—In Quito, on the 19th of July, 1698, during an earthquake, a great part of the crater and summit of the volcano Carguairazo fell in, and a stream of water and mud issued from the broken sides of the hill.[704]
Sicily, 1693.—Shocks of earthquakes spread over all Sicily in 1693, and on the 11th of January the city of Catania and forty-nine other places were levelled to the ground, and about one hundred thousand people killed. The bottom of the sea, says Vicentino Bonajutus, sank down considerably, both in ports, inclosed bays, and open parts of the coast, and water bubbled up along the shores. Numerous long fissures of various breadths were caused, which threw out sulphurous water; and one of them, in the plain of Catania (the delta of the Simeto), at the distance of four miles from the sea, sent forth water as salt as the sea. The stone buildings of a street in the city of Noto, for the length of half a mile, sank into the ground, and remained hanging on one side. In another street, an opening large enough to swallow a man and horse appeared.[705]
Moluccas, 1693.—The small Isle of Sorea, which consists of one great volcano, was in eruption in the year 1693. Different parts of the cone fell, one after the other, into a deep crater, until almost half the space of the island was converted into a fiery lake. Most of the inhabitants fled to Banda; but great pieces of the mountain continued to fall down, so that the lake of lava became wider; and finally the whole population was compelled to emigrate. It is stated that, in proportion as the burning lake increased in size, the earthquakes were less vehement.[706]
Jamaica, 1692.—In the year 1692, the island of Jamaica was visited by a violent earthquake; the ground swelled and heaved like a rolling sea, and was traversed by numerous cracks, two or three hundred of which were often seen at a time, opening and then closing rapidly again. Many people were swallowed up in these rents; some the earth caught by the middle, and squeezed to death; the heads of others only appeared above ground; and some were first engulfed, and then cast up again with great quantities of water. Such was the devastation, that even in Port Royal, then the capital, where more houses are said to have been left standing than in the whole island besides, three-quarters of the buildings, together with the ground they stood on, sank down with their inhabitants entirely under water.
Subsidence in the harbor.—The large storehouses on the harbor side subsided, so as to be twenty-four, thirty-six, and forty-eight feet under water; yet many of them appear to have remained standing, for it is stated that, after the earthquake, the mast-heads of several ships wrecked in the harbor, together with the chimney-tops of houses, were just seen projecting above the waves. A tract of land round the town, about a thousand acres in extent, sank down in less than one minute, during the first shock, and the sea immediately rolled in. The Swan frigate, which was repairing in the wharf, was driven over the tops of many buildings, and then thrown upon one of the roofs, through which it broke. The breadth of one of the streets is said to have been doubled by the earthquake.
According to Sir H. De la Beche, the part of Port Royal described as having sunk was built upon newly formed land, consisting of sand, in which piles had been driven; and the settlement of this loose sand, charged with the weight of heavy houses, may, he suggests, have given rise to the subsidence alluded to.[707]
There have undoubtedly been instances in Calabria and elsewhere of slides of land on which the houses have still remained standing; and it is possible that such may have been the case at Port Royal. The fact at least of submergence is unquestionable, for I was informed by the late Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton that he frequently saw the submerged houses of Port Royal in the year 1780, in that part of the harbor which lies between the town and the usual anchorage of men-of-war. Bryan Edwards also says, in his history of the West Indies, that in 1793 the ruins were visible in clear weather from the boats which sailed over them.[708] Lastly, Lieutenant B. Jeffery, R. N., tells me that, being engaged in a survey between the years 1824 and 1835, he repeatedly visited the site in question, where the depth of the water is from four to six fathoms, and whenever there was but little wind perceived distinct traces of houses. He saw these more clearly when he used the instrument called the "diver's eye," which is let down below the ripple of the wave.[709]