observes--"What is most wonderful for us to
comprehend is the undeception which takes place with respect to the kind
of innate belief which men entertain of the repose and immovability of
the terrestrial strata." And further on he says--"The earthquake appears
to men as something omnipresent and unlimited. From the eruption of a
crater, from a stream of lava running towards our dwellings, it appears
possible to escape, but in an earthquake, whichever way flight is
directed the fugitive believes himself on the brink of destruction!" No
familiarity with the phenomenon can blunt this feeling. The inhabitant
of Lima who, from childhood, has frequently witnessed these convulsions
of nature, is roused from his sleep by the shock, and rushes from his
apartment with the cry of "_Misericordia!_" The foreigner from the north
of Europe, who knows nothing of earthquakes but by description, waits
with impatience to feel the movement of the earth, and longs to hear
with his own ears the subterraneous sounds which he has hitherto
considered fabulous. With levity he treats the apprehension of a coming
convulsion, and laughs at the fears of the natives. But as soon as his
wish is gratified he is terror-stricken, and is involuntarily prompted
to seek safety in flight.

In Lima, the painful impression produced by an earthquake is heightened
by the universality of the exercise of the devotions (_plegarias_) on
such a calamity. Immediately on the shock being felt, a signal is given
from the cathedral, and the long-measured ten-minute tollings of all the
church bells summon the inhabitants to prayers.

Taking a comprehensive view of the whole coast of Peru, we perceive
that Lima lies in one of those oases which break the continuity of the
extensive sand-flats. These valleys present themselves wherever a
river, after a short course from the Cordilleras, falls into the sea;
they are always fan-shaped widenings of the mountain ravines. The
valley of Lima lies in the widest extension of the Quebrada of
Mutucamas. This narrow gorge, which has its main direction from E.N.E.
to W.S.W., widens at Cocachacra, and extends into San Pedro Mama,
where the Quebrada of San Geronimo unites with it. It then runs down
to the coast, extending more and more in width, and is intersected by
the Rimac.[39] This river rises in two branches, the largest of which
has its source in some small lagunes, in the upper part of Antarangra,
on a height 15,600 feet above the