of June, 1870. The most severe shock was
on the 12th of June and was sufficiently powerful to overthrow many
buildings.

The republic of San Salvador was again visited by a great earthquake
in October, 1878. Many towns, such as Incuapa, Guadeloupe, and
Santiago de Marie, were almost totally destroyed, and many lives were
lost. The shock causing the most damage had at first a kind of
oscillatory movement lasting over forty seconds and ending in a
general upheaval of the earth; the result being that solid walls,
arches, and strongly braced roofs, were broken and severed like
pipe-stems. In the vicinity of Incuapa a number of villages
disappeared entirely.

The mountainous region of Mexico is highly volcanic, and earthquakes
are of frequent occurrence. Very few of them, however, in the historic
period, have occasioned great loss of either life or property. One of
the most disastrous occurred in January, 1835, when the town of
Acapulco was totally destroyed. In April, ten years later, the City of
Mexico was much shaken. Considerable damage was done to buildings,
especially to churches and other edifices of large size, several of
which were reduced to ruins. The loss of life was limited to less than
twenty. Probably the most serious convulsion the country has
experienced was in 1858, when shocks were felt over almost all the
republic, causing many deaths, and destroying much property. Over 100
people lost their lives on May 11 and 12, 1870, when the city of
Oaxaca was visited by a succession of severe shocks, which tore down
many buildings. Since this time Mexico has been free from convulsions
of any great magnitude, although slight earth tremors are of frequent
occurrence in different parts of the country.

Mexican volcanoes, likewise, are famous for their size, though of late
years no great eruptions have occurred. There are many isolated peaks,
all of volcanic origin, of which Orizaba, with a height of 18,314
feet, and Popocatepetl, 17,300 feet, the most renowned, are both
active. The latter has one crater 5,000 feet in diameter. From the
summit the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico are both visible.

This crater has not erupted for many years, but in former times it
threw its ashes a distance of sixty miles. One can descend into its
depths fully 1,000 feet, and view its sulphur walls, hung with
stalactites of ice, or see its columns of vapor spouting here and
there through crevices that extend down into the inter