In Northern Chile, From The
Extreme Infrequency Of Rain, Or Even Of Weather Foreboding
Rain, The Probability Of Accidental Coincidences Becomes Very
Small; Yet The Inhabitants Are Here Most Firmly Convinced Of
Some Connection Between The State Of The Atmosphere And Of
The Trembling Of The Ground:
I was much struck by this
when mentioning to some people at Copiapo that there had
been a sharp shock at Coquimbo:
They immediately cried out,
"How fortunate! there will be plenty of pasture there this
year." To their minds an earthquake foretold rain as surely
as rain foretold abundant pasture. Certainly it did so happen
that on the very day of the earthquake, that shower of
rain fell, which I have described as in ten days' time producing
a thin sprinkling of grass. At other times rain has
followed earthquakes at a period of the year when it is a
far greater prodigy than the earthquake itself: this happened
after the shock of November, 1822, and again in 1829, at
Valparaiso; also after that of September, 1833, at Tacna.
A person must be somewhat habituated to the climate of
these countries to perceive the extreme improbability of rain
falling at such seasons, except as a consequence of some law
quite unconnected with the ordinary course of the weather.
In the cases of great volcanic eruptions, as that of Coseguina,
where torrents of rain fell at a time of the year most
unusual for it, and "almost unprecedented in Central
America," it is not difficult to understand that the volumes
of vapour and clouds of ashes might have disturbed the
atmospheric equilibrium.
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