tune. It consumed the thousands of corpses which
would otherwise have tainted the air, adding pestilence to the other
misfortunes of the survivors. Yet they were threatened with an enemy not
less appalling, for famine stared them in the face. Almost everything
eatable within the precincts of the city had been consumed. A set
of wretches, morever, who had escaped from the ruins of the prisons,
prowled among the rubbish of the houses in search of plunder, so that
whatever remained in the shape of provisions fell into their hands and
was speedily devoured. They also broke into the houses that remained
standing, and rifled them of their contents. It is said that many of
those who had been only injured by the ruins, and might have escaped by
being extricated, were ruthlessly murdered by those merciless villains.

The total loss of life by this terrible catastrophe is estimated at
60,000 persons, of whom about 40,000 perished at once, and the remainder
died afterwards of the injuries and privations they sustained. Twelve
hundred were buried in the ruins of the general hospital, eight hundred
in those of the civil prison, and several thousands in those of the
convents. The loss of property amounted to many millions sterling.

WIDE-SPREAD DESTRUCTION

Although the earth-wave traversed the whole city, the shock was felt
more severely in some quarters than in others. All the older part of the
town, called the Moorish quarter, was entirely overthrown; and of the
newer part, about seventy of the principal streets were ruined.
Some buildings that withstood the shocks were destroyed by fire. The
cathedral, eighteen parish churches, almost all the convents, the halls
of the inquisition, the royal residence, and several other fine palaces
of the nobility and mansions of the wealthy, the custom-houses, the
warehouses filled with merchandise, the public granaries filled with
corn, and large timber yards, with their stores of lumber, were either
overthrown or burned.

The king and court were not in Lisbon at the time of this great
disaster, but were living in the neighborhood at the castle of Belem,
which escaped injury. The royal family, however, were so alarmed by the
shocks, that they passed the following night in carriages out of
doors. None of the officers of state were with them at the time. On
the following morning the king hastened to the ruined city, to see what
could be done toward restoring order, aiding the wounded, and