area; in the province of Ilocos it buried palm trees, so that only the
tops of their branches were left above the earth's surface; through
the power of the earthquake mountains were pushed against each other;
it threw down many buildings, and killed a great number of people. Its
fury was greatest in Nueva Segovia, where it opened the mountains, and
created new lake basins. The earth threw up immense fountains of sand,
and vibrated so terribly that the people, unable to stand upon it,
laid down and fastened themselves to the ground, as if they had been
on a ship in a stormy sea. In the range inhabited by the Mendayas a
mountain fell in, crushing a village and killing its inhabitants. An
immense portion of the cliff sank into the river; and now, where the
stream was formerly bordered by a range of hills of considerable
altitude, its banks are nearly level with the watercourse. The
commotion was so great in the bed of the river that waves arose like
those of the ocean, or as if the water had been lashed by a furious
wind. Those edifices which were of stone suffered the most damage,
our church and the convent fell in, etc., etc."


CHAPTER II


[Customhouse red tape.] The customs inspection, and the many
formalities which the native minor officials exercised without any
consideration appear all the more wearisome to the new arrival when
contrasted with the easy routine of the English free ports of the
east he has just quitted. The guarantee of a respectable merchant
obtained for me, as a particular favor, permission to disembark after
a detention of sixteen hours; but even then I was not allowed to take
the smallest article of luggage on shore with me.