upants had time to escape. But Cua--unhappy
Cua!--was utterly destroyed. Without a moment's warning, without a
single indication of their impending fate, all the inhabitants were
buried beneath the mass of ruins to which in a few seconds it was
reduced. Perhaps it is not strictly correct to say there had been no
sign. The heat had become so intense between seven and eight o'clock
that numbers of persons were seated outside of the houses or had betaken
themselves to the open squares to endeavor to seize a breath of fresh
air, while many of the lower classes were sleeping under the open sky;
to which fact, indeed, they owed their lives. The only habitations which
survived the violence of the shock were the huts of the poor, being what
is called _bajareque_, made of posts driven into the earth and otherwise
formed of a species of wild cane tied together and cemented with mud
and straw, these primitive dwellings being usually considered
earthquake-proof.

Besides the extraordinary heat, a friend of ours, who was riding from
his plantation into the town, observed another indication of some
disturbance in the usual processes of Nature. While crossing the river
he noticed that the fishes were leaping in great numbers out of the
water, and called the attention of several persons to the fact. They
attributed this, however, to the discomfort occasioned by the intense
heat, for the temperature of the water had increased so much that it had
become disagreeable to drink.

The gentleman to whom I have alluded, Don Tomas de la G----, describes
the subterranean noise at Cua during the earthquake as something
terrific, like the discharge of hundreds of cannon, while the earth rose
simultaneously under his feet. There are two kinds of earthquakes--that
of _trepidacion_, which comes directly from below, with an upward
motion; the other, _de oscilacion_, where the earth sways to and fro
like a pendulum, and which is generally less dangerous. Unfortunate Cua
experienced both: the first shock was one vast upheaval, the whole town
being uprooted from its foundations and every house uplifted and
overturned, and before the bewildered population could realize what was
happening they were buried beneath the ruins. The shock then changed
into the oscillatory movement, and set all this mass of destruction to
quivering as if it were the dire agony of some living creature. All was
so sudden that few were saved by their own exertions, those who survi