nas, which are in the same sad condition, but | the shocks was, for I must leave such matters are unapproachable from the fact that the roads and the exploration of the ground till I have have totally disappeared and all the bridges attended to more pressing wants. Nevertheswept away. The town of Atuntaqui is also less, it is thought, with reason apparently, that destroyed; of its population one-fifth have been the focus is Mount Ocampo, for it casts out saved. The farms surrounding this place have great quantities of bituminous matter." suffered terribly. Of Ibarra two-thirds of the inhabitants have been saved." The change in the physical aspect of the country caused by the convulsion is thus described by the Jesuit Father Aguilar, in a letter to the government dated from Carranqui, five days after the event: "All the road from Otabalo to Ibarra is sown with ruins and the dead. The opening and tumbling in of ravines are frequent, especially along the West Cordillera, from Mojando to San Lorenzo. On the slopes of Cuicocha, besides the tumbling of huge pieces, enormous new clefts are being opened, or the old ones made wider. The roads that joined the farms and towns of the western slope are impassable, owing to broad and deep ravines. The Ambi bluffs gave way, carrying all the cane-fields and houses along. The fate of the town of Cotacachi is described in the reports with terrible brevity: "Where Cotacachi was is now a lake!" This town suf fered most in the earthquake of 1859, from the effects of which, however, it had mainly recovered, so that Mr. Hassaurek observes that he saw less ruins there than any where else in the country. Of Atuntaqui, the town which lost four-fifths of its inhabitants, the same authority says, "it was one of the most industrious and enterprising of the republic." Ibarra, the capital of the province, was also its most populous and important town, with a population variously stated at from 8000 to 16,000, but probably nearer the former number. It was beautifully situated in the centre of a rich plain, at an elevation of about 7500 feet above the sea, almost hidden among orchards, gardens, clover-fields, and willows, above which only the spires and domes of its churches were visible. Travelers describe its inhabitants as having been exceedingly social and hospitable, the place being the residence of most of the large landed and sugar-estate proprietors of the district. According to the early accounts of the earthquake not less than 13,000 people were killed in Ibarra, but the Medical Commis"So far we can not tell where the centre of sion reports that two-thirds were saved, and The formidable masses of stone and earth that were hurled from the Cotacachi rolled down into the lower plains, carrying ruin and desolation with them. From the Imbaburu's northern slope has started a torrent of mud that has formed hillocks, after destroying some fields of grain near Ibarra and killing a great number of cattle. The mud flow was followed by a less one of water, which is daily increasing. that if the survivors “had gone energetically | old city of Riobamba, is still remembered with to work to extricate those that were buried awe. Only four hundred and eighty persons alive, the number of victims would not have of its population escaped, while the entire face exceeded 500. But indolence, apathy, and a of the country around it was wholly changed. thirst for robbery," the Commission adds, "pre- Mountains rose where cultivated valleys had vented any attempt from being made to unearth existed; rivers disappeared or changed their the victims, whose cries and lamentation con- course; and plains usurped the place of mounttinued for five and six days." Hence the un-ains and ravines. fortunates who were not immediately killed were forced to linger and die of hunger, thirst, and festering wounds. Within a few days the bodies began to decompose, the stench became intolerable, and the living were compelled to fly from the scene. "The stench," writes Father Aguilar, "at the end of six days, is so great that it is sickening at the distance of two miles. Nevertheless, we went yesterday to the ruins, and, after working for two hours, succeeded in rescuing one poor fellow who had been buried all this time by the side of his dead wife. The decomposition of the latter and the horrors that awaited him were unsurpassed and inconceivable." To the east of Riobamba the volcano of Sangai is seen, in a state of constant eruption; and in this direction, also, is the beautiful Altar (El Altar), whose original name, however, in the Inca tongue, was Capac-Urcu, 16,380 feet high. According to an ancient tradition among the natives, this mountain-the form of which is so extraordinary that no other peak of the Andes can equal it in splendor, when the setting sun lights up the snows that cover itwas formerly much higher than Chimborazo. Its eruptions were continuous for seven or eight years, when the summit fell in, leaving two symmetric horns, which seem to lean toward each other and give an idea of the original form of the volcano. A table of rock which, seen from Riobamba, rises upon the western edge of the crater, between the horns, has obtained for the mountain the Spanish name of Altar. The falling in of the mountain is fixed by tradition at about the close of the fifteenth century. The Indians applied the name of Queen of the Mountains to this volcano, and the adjectives great, powerful, glorious, splendid, and incomparable, to this mountain. This same reporter gives us the following paragraph, which, perhaps better than any description, brings home to us how sweeping must have been the destruction not only in Ibarra, but the other towns: "At Ibarra 18 of the Rocha family were lost, leaving the name extinguished; of the Villota family 11 perished; of the Almeidas, 26; of the Vacas, 4; of the Sabias, 7; of the latter's tenants, 20; of the Perez, 5; the Laras, 7; Burban, 3; Rosales, 17; Rétama, 1; Andrade Marin, 12; Miguel Andrade, 7; Ledesma, 15-the whole name; Peñaherrera, 18; Agrijalva, 4; Ribadanciza, 4; Meza, 2; Vega, 7; Yepez, 6; Espinoza, 6; Vinuesa, 1; Torres, 11; Brizon, 5; Acosta, 8; Peña, 6; Pacheco, 8; Teran, 3; Flores, 7; Gomez, 4; Guzman, 5; Pozes, 4; Benalcasar, 8; Castelo, 1; Suares, 8; Lopez, 13; and Va-tidal wave was the principal cause of injury, exlencia, 4. At Quitumbita were lost Drs. Andrade Marin and J. Bonce, besides many other persons. In the house where they lived not a soul was left to tell the tale.' Otabalo, situated not far from Ibarra, but at a greater altitude (8500 feet above sea), is reported to have suffered more than the latter town. Of its reputed 10,000 inhabitants 7000 are reported to have suffered. The extent of the Ecuadorean earthquake is as yet unknown, beyond that it was felt as far north as Pasto, in the interior of Colombia, and at Guayaquil, and along the coast of the province of Camanas, to the northward of that port, for a distance of 300 miles. This coast, like that of Peru, was swept by a tidal wave after the shocks had thrown down twenty-two churches, nearly all of the public buildings, and most of the houses. The southern part of Ecuador, next Peru, seems to have suffered least; but in former times it was more sorely afflicted than any part of this lofty volcanic region. In 1640 the town of Cacha was swallowed up, and, with its 5000 Indians, was never seen again. The great catastrophe of 1797, which destroyed the The great earthquake of the 13th of August was distinctly felt throughout the whole length of Chili to Chiloe, and in the islands off the coast. It was, however, only in the northern part of the country, from Mejellones to Copiapo and La Serena, that the direct force of the shock was most severely felt. To the south of Valparaiso the cept perhaps at Talcahuano, where, on the night of the 14th of August, at nine o'clock, a distinct and independent series of shocks took place, attended by a tidal wave of presumably local origin and of great force. The water of the sea is said to have grown hot, so that the shell-fish thrown up by the wave were thoroughly boiled. Similar subsequent shocks took place in Copiapo, Coquimbo, and La Serena, which were attributed to a different centre of action from those of the 13th. According to report, the volcano of Leullallco, 80 leagues back from Copiapo, broke out in violent eruption simultaneously with these earthquakes. According to one account: "From its crater enormous torrents of large stones were discharged, which rolled to a great distance in the valley below, leaving tracks which will last for ages. The lava at the same time vomited forth formed hillocks of a grayish color, which offer an imposing view from a distance. At the foot of the peak large crevices have been opened, in some places 50 yards wide, from which a kind of brackish water, highly impregnated with sulphur, issues forth in great abundance; and a few squares further off the earth has entirely [ductions and generalizations regarding the earthchanged its structure, many small rivulets hav-quakes and the tidal waves are embarrassed by ing been formed where none ever before ex- the general looseness of the statements that isted, out of some of which a species of fish of reach us, and which are moreover often contravarious size have been taken, similar to the dictory. king-fish (peje-rey?)." The velocity of the earthquake shock, it is obvious, must depend greatly on the nature of the earth's crust through which it is transmitted, and upon the initial force. As a consequence we find a rate of transit, in different cases, varying from 20 to 40 miles a minutethe great Lisbon earthquake of October 31, 1755, which was felt over an area four times as great as that of all Europe, having a max From all these accounts it would appear that the great August earthquakes resolve themselves into three groups, viz.: those felt from Peru as a centre on the afternoon of the 13th of August; those, less severe, affecting the coast of Chili on the 14th and 15th; and those that destroyed the province of Imbaburu in Ecuador on the 16th. The two former, originating not far back from the sea, were attend-imum propulsion of 37 miles a minute. ed with marked marine phenomena, which were observed in every part of the Pacific. The tidal wave or waves which agitated that ocean deserve close study in connection with the South American earthquakes, which may have been, after all, only incidents themselves sympathiz-quegua. ing with some grand disturbance having its focus beneath the ocean. In Southern California the oscillations of the sea were observed about daylight on the 14th of August; in all the Sandwich Islands about midnight on the 13th; in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands and Australia on the 15th, and at about the same time on the coasts of China and Japan. It will take time and care to gather the data, especially as regards the precise time of the occurrence of the phenomenon in all these places, to determine if it was wholly due to the disturbances on the South American coast. In fact, all de The earthquake of August 13, as already said, seems to have had its centre of action somewhere at the base of the Cordillera, or in the Cordillera itself, between Arica and Arequipa, and not far from the city of Mo There were five points where observations as to the time of the occurrence were made with sufficient exactness to enable us to determine approximately its place of origin and its rapidity, viz.: Arequipa, Arica, Pisco, Lima, and on board the ship Gobernador Pozzi, at sea, in latitude 15° 45′ south, and longitude 75° 44' west. Reduced to mean time, at Lima, the first shock of the earthquake was felt: In Lima.. In Pisco......... In Arequipa.. .at 4 h. 46 m. P.M. .at 4 h. 43 m. P.M. ..at 4 h. 48 m. P.M. .at 4 h. 42 m. P.M. .at 4 h. 38 m. P.M. This would give a rate of velocity between comprehended in the records, but that, with Pisco and Lima (112 miles), assuming both due allowance for these circumstances, there places to be on the same radius from the cen- has been a rapid increase in the number of tre of action, of a fraction less than 40 miles earthquakes, especially those of a disastrous per minute. From Pisco to the place at sea oc- kind. cupied by the Gobernador Pozzi the distance is 125 miles, so that the rate of velocity through the ocean or its bed was here only about 25 miles per minute. The distance from Pisco to the Sandwich Islands is about 85 equatorial degrees, or 5950 statute miles, which, as the wave struck there at "about midnight," would give it seven hours in the transit, equal to about 15 miles per minute, which is about the estimated speed of the wave in the great Indian earthquake of 1819. Finally, the South American earthquakes seem to have been the culmination of a series of disturbances affecting the whole globe, commencing with the St. Thomas earthquakes in October, 1867, followed by the grand eruption of Mauna Loa in the Sandwich Islands in April, and by the increased activity of most other known volcanic vents. They were followed by convulsions in almost every part of the world, of far less intensity-and which, as I write, do not appear to have wholly subsided-in California, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, Eastern Asia, Austria, the south of France, Great Britain, our own Atlantic States, and in Mexico. I have prepared, from very imperfect materials, a list of upward of two hundred earthquakes reported to have occurred in the fourteen months between October, 1867, and January, 1869-a number many times in excess of that of any preceding year. The year, in short, has furnished us with fresh and cogent evidence in support of Mr. Mallet, who stated some years ago, in a report to the British Association, that from the sixtieth to the eightieth year of each century is always the period of greatest volcanic activity. There are philosophers who maintain that earthquakes and their affiliated phenomena are on the increase, and will increase with every cycle. They will probably point triumphantly to the record of the last year in demonstration of their theory. Their hypothesis is, that with the cooling of the fused interior mass of the earth the strata forming its crust are constantly impelled to readjust themselves under the alterations of pressure exerted by deposits from great rivers, land-slips, and a multitude of other causes. In other words, that the equilibrium of the earth is constantly changing from these as also from meteoric incidents; and that these changes become, consequently, more and more frequent; and they point to the fact that of the 6831 earthquakes registered up to the end of the year 1850, only 58 happened before the Christian era, while 3204 are known to have occurred during the first half of this century. They admit that part of this apparent increase is due to better registration, and because a larger portion of the surface of the earth is So remarkable has been this increase that there have not been wanting those who have accepted the fact as a physical interpretation of the prophecy of our Saviour, that one of the signs of the establishment of his religion in the world would be the occurrence of earthquakes "in divers places." Besides these terrestrial phenomena the year involved will long be remembered among meteorologists. England and the greater part of the continent of Europe were scorched by drought. India was deluged with rain. In Bengal 78 inches of rain fell in nine months, being 11 inches more than the annual average. In Guzerat, Surat, etc., thousands of houses were washed away, and the rice crops were rotted.. In Southern Europe the rain-fall was excessive. Parts of Italy were so drenched that prayers for fair weather were offered in the churches. It was so rainy on the borders of Como that the visitors there sought refuge in Milan. Every where, nearly, strange and extraordinary, if not unprecedented, meteorological phenomena were observed. But whatever may be their portent, they have called out an enlarged and Christian sympathy and material aid to sufferers equally unprecedented in the history of the world. The Congress of Chili, immediately on the disaster becoming known, did not limit its beneficence to its own sufferers, but appropriated large sums for the relief of those in Peru, where private as well as public contributions in the towns that escaped were made on a magnificent scaleMr. Meiggs, an American contractor for the Arequipa railway, notwithstanding heavy personal losses, heading the list with a donation of $50,000. When the fearful nature of the ruin in Ecuador became known in Lima the Government not only immediately forwarded $100,000 to Quito, but authorized a guarantee of a loan of $2,000,000 for the authorities of Ecuador. All the foreign vessels of war on the South Pacific coast not only offered their services as transports for stores to the points most afflicted, but freely dispensed their own to the hungry, the sick, and the wounded. Conspicuous in this work of charity were the Powhatan and Kearsarge of our own squadron; and many of the survivors of the destruction at Arica must have died from hunger, exposure, and want of medical attention had it not been for the officers and crew of the Wateree, which, although stranded, remained in perfect order, with her armament, stores, and medicines complete. Thus it is that the ties of brotherhood and the bonds of charity between men and nations become every year stronger. The rainbow spans the storm. A CATHERINE II., OF RUSSIA. FAIR-HAIRED, well-formed, and goodhumored girl, remarkable for her cheerfulness and gay spirits, her intelligence, and her native dignity, Catherine II., of Russia, then Princess Sophia of Zerbst, passed her happy youth chiefly at the little town of Stettin. Neither pride nor ambition disturbed the modest hours of her girlhood. She played with the children of the quiet citizens, and was scarcely distinguished in any thing from her young companions, except that she was always the leader of their games. Her dress was plain, her education strict and careful, and she was early instructed in the Lutheran religion by an excellent pastor, who strove to form her mind to virtue and self-restraint. Sometimes she was allowed to vary her quiet life by a visit to an aunt at Hamburg, where she read the works of eminent living authors, and formed a lasting taste for letters. Still oftener she was at Brunswick, with her relative the dowager-duchess; and now and then visited the court of the great Frederick at Berlin. Frank, generous, kind, she seems to have been generally beloved by her companions; in her later grandeur she called herself to their memory by various tokens of affection and esteem; she sent her picture set in jewels to a playmate, and a sum of money to her schoolmaster; and the mighty and guilty empress would sometimes speak of her school-days at Stettin with a pleasure that no doubt concealed a deep, unspoken pain. But great plans were being concerted by several crowned heads for the handsome Stettin princess; she was to be made Empress of all the Russias. Elizabeth, the reigning empress at this time (1744), was now growing old, and her nephew, the Grand-duke Peter, was her heir. She wished to provide him with a wife, and a romance-like circumstance led her to fix her choice upon the Princess Sophia. Long ere she mounted the throne of the Czars, it is said, Elizabeth had loved and had been betrothed to the young Prince of Holstein, who was Sophia's uncle. But just as the marriage was about to be celebrated, the prince fell sick and died. In the anguish of her bereavement and of her disappointed hope of happiness Elizabeth made a vow never to marry another. She kept her vow, at least in name, and the memory of her early love seems to have lingered deep in her heart through all the irregularities of her later career. It is charitable to believe that those who have erred might, under more happy circumstances, have been purer and better; and we may readily conceive that had Elizabeth been united to one whom she so tenderly loved, her life would have been far different, and her fame unclouded by those dark stains that must now forever rest upon it. The Czaress had heard of the attractive appearance and amiable disposition of the young Sophia, and she sent for her to come with her mother to St. Petersburg, hoping that her nephew, Peter, would consent to make her his wife. Frederick of Prussia, too, was anxious to promote the marriage; and all things seemed at first to concur in fulfilling the hopes of the empress and the king. Sophia alone was led by an instinctive dread to shrink from the alliance. When the project was mentioned to her she burst into tears, refused to leave the peaceful and innocent home at Stettin for the splendors of St. Petersburg, and declared that she would rather marry a simple count in Holstein than share the throne of the future Emperor of all the Russias. She was induced, however, by the solicitation of her mother, and, perhaps, by her own native ambition, to stifle her prophetic terror and appear at the imperial court. She was now in the first bloom of maiden grace and dignity. Her figure was fine and commanding, her complexion fair, her eyes blue, her hair light and flowing; and her intelligent countenance and pleasant disposition won the hearts of the Russians. Peter, too, possessed many of the attractions of youth. His face and figure were not unpleasing. He was still innocent and pure; his disposition frank and kind. No sooner had the young couple met than they seemed to have formed a mutual affection and esteem. Peter became Sophia's avowed lover; and her mother, overjoyed by the success of her ambitious plans, threw herself at the Empress's feet and asked her consent to their union; she called to her mind the love she had borne to the prince, her brother, and urged the strong affection that bound the grand-duke and her niece together. Elizabeth, who could never hear the prince of Holstein's name mentioned without weeping, burst into tears and gave her consent with joy. The approaching marriage was announced to the foreign embassadors, and a day was appointed for the celebration of the nuptials. The Princess Sophia, meantime, had changed her Lutheran faith for that of the Greek church, and was baptized anew under the name of Catherine Alexievna. A fatal change! The fair Stettin girl seems almost to have assumed a new character with her new name. She was never more Sophia of Zerbst; she was ever after to be the ambitious, unscrupulous, and magnificent Catherine. All things had thus far passed prosperously, even beyond their hopes, for the royal promoters of this fatal match. But now the first of a long series of misfortunes occurred. The grandduke was suddenly seized with the small-pox of a most malignant character-his life was despaired of; and Catherine seemed threatened, like Elizabeth, with the loss of her royal lover. Unhappily for both he at length recovered. But his youthful vigor and graceful form were gone, he was shrunken and withered; and his once handsome face was now disfigured in a manner that made him for a time, at least, hideous to look upon. Catherine, prepared by her mother for the |