"As we entered Arequipa ('Place of Rest') we thought of Damascus, to which it has been compared by more than one traveller. Like Damascus, it stands on the edge of the desert, and, also like that Oriental city, it is watered by a river which nourishes its gardens, and creates a spot of living green in the midst of an arid waste. It stands in a valley ten miles long by five in width, but all around the valley is a desert. There is not sufficient water for purposes of irrigation; land that is well irrigated is worth a thousand dollars an acre, as it is wonderfully fertile and produces abundantly.
"We spent a day in Arequipa, which was a station under the Inca government before the city was founded by Pizarro, in 1540. At every step we saw traces of the terrible havoc wrought by the earthquake of 1868; there was not a block without its pile of ruins, and some of the streets reminded us of Pompeii, or of Old Delhi. Churches were reduced to a mass of rubbish, the towers of the cathedral were demolished, the university was a heap of ruins, and hundreds of the houses were still unoccupied.
"According to the accounts written at the time, the first shock of the earthquake was felt about five o'clock in the afternoon. There was a slight tremor of the ground, which increased at intervals of fifteen or twenty seconds; it was not until fully a minute after the first shock that the buildings began to fall, and consequently the inhabitants had time to escape to the streets. Compared with Ibarra and other cities, the loss of life was small. The sick in the hospital and prisoners in the carcel were unable to flee, and were buried in the falling ruins, and it was estimated that about three hundred others were killed. Before the earthquake the city had a population of not far from fifty thousand; it is now estimated at forty thousand, with the probability of an increase to the old figure in consequence of the revival of commerce by the opening of the railway.
"Our attention was drawn to the use of galvanized iron for the domes of the buildings in place of stone, which was the material formerly employed. It is thought the next earthquake will have less effect than former ones, since iron can withstand what stone cannot. There is a great scarcity of wood here, or it would be popular in the construction of houses. Wooden houses can hold out against earthquakes better than those of more solid materials, as they can be twisted a great deal before falling. The best material I have ever seen for this purpose is a network of bamboo, plastered on both sides to fill the chinks between the poles and withes.
THE OLD WAY OF TRAVEL.
"We asked for the manufactures of Arequipa, but we asked in vain. There was formerly a considerable commerce with the interior, but at present there are no industries beyond the trade in alpaca wool which is the support of the city. There are only a few mercantile houses, and these are mostly German or English, and the chief occupation of the inhabitants is to do nothing. We saw only two men displaying anything like activity; they had quarrelled, and one was pursuing the other with a knife in his hand, but though he ran fast he did not overtake his intended victim.
"The altitude of Arequipa is 7650 feet above the sea; the summit of Misti, a most picturesque volcano, rises behind the city to a height of 18,500 feet, very much as Etna rises behind Catania. It is now silent, but it was fearfully active in 1868, and is liable again to burst forth as the accompaniment of another earthquake.
"The population is as uncertain, politically and socially, as the ground on which their city stands, if we may judge by the frequency with which they indulge in revolutions and insurrections. In three hundred years there have been ten or twelve severe earthquakes and innumerable smaller shocks; in the same time there have been at least a dozen revolts, while plots against the peace and dignity of the state are said to be constantly going on. In 1867 the city was bombarded for three days by the president of the republic, who failed to capture it, and it has several times been shaken by war as well as by earthquakes."