EARTHQUAKE IN ST. DOMINGO.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 31, 15 November 1842, Page 4

EARTHQUAKE IN ST. DOMINGO.

TUN THOUSAND LIVES LOST. (From the Times.) The American papers received by the Acadia inform us that an appalling catastrophe had befallen the Island of St. Domingo. That island was visited on the 7th ult. with repeated and severe shocks of earthquake, which had entirely demolished the town of Cape Haytien, and it was calculated had destroyed the lives of 10,(100 of its citizens. Other towns on the same side of the island had, it was feared, shared in the desolation. The town of Cape Haytien has entirely disappeared, and with if two-thirds of its population, which amounted to about 15,000 inhabitants. A fire broke out after the earthquake, which destroyed the powder magazine, and with, it the miserable remnant of the inhabitants who had escaped the earthquake. The towns of St. Nicholas and Port Paix are also said to he destroyed. The following are extracts from the correspondence of the New York papers : “ By the politeness of Captain Morris, of the brig i Villi am. Ncilson, from Port au-Prince, we have received Le Pairiot.e of the 11th May, published at that place, which gives an account of a shocking earthquake that occurred in that island on the 7tli of May, at 5 o’clock in the evening. “The principal destruction of life, of which we have an account, was at Cape Haytien, which town was entirely destroyed. It contained about 1500 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom arc thought to be dead. The approach of the earthquake was indicated in Port-au-Princc by great heat, and heavy clouds that covered the neighbouring hills, and followed the direction of the south-west to the north-east. The vessels at anchor, some of the sailors report, experienced the shock before they saw the houses agitated, which seemed to indicate that the shock came from the west. There were two Uioeks at Port-au-Prince very distinctly felt, the first not so long as the second, which last endured about three minutes. Every person strove to get out of the houses, and the streets were filled with the affrighted population. A little longer, says the Patriote, and Port-au-Prince would have been the theatre of a disaster similar to that of 1770, of which disastrous year the remembrance was rushing into all minds. The Patriote also says, that there is hardly a house or a wall that has not suffered a little. Some have become almost uninhabitable. The front of the Senate House, where the arms of the Republic are sculptured, is detached and broken. The interior was uninjured. On tli# Saturday night succeeding and on Sunday, there were other shocks. Mass was interrupted, and the persons present ran hither and thither, while many women fainted. On Monday morning at 12 o’clock there was another shock. The weather all the while was changeable, now extreme heat, now rain, now fair, and now signs as if of a storm. On Tuesday, again, there was another shock, and since then, says the Patriote, ‘ it seems to us that we walk upon a quaking earth.’ ” St. Marc. —A letter from this town says, that the earthquake was felt there with violence. Many houses were seriously damaged, and some destroyed, hut no loss of life is mentioned. At Gonaives the shocks were yet more serious. The greater part of the houses were overthrown. A lire broke out at the same time, and there was not a drop of water in the town. All the houses that were not burnt suffered from the earthquake. It was in the streets that the writer of the letter giving this account was inditing it. The Church, the Prison, the Palais National, the Treasury, and the Arsenal, were all destroyed. This letter concludes at 8 a.m., by saying : “ It is only half an hour since that we felt a very great commotion. At present we are ignorant of the number of persons killed or wounded. All the prisoners who are not buried in the ruins escaped. God grant that Port-au-Prince may not have experienced such a disaster!” Cape Haytien. —The town of Cape Haytien has entirely disappeared, and with it two-thirds of the population. The families that could escape lied to Fosscttc, where they were without an asylum, clothing, or provisions. The president of Ilayti has given orders to the physicians and officers of the hospitals to leave the city immediately, in order to give succour to the distressed. Other t-.id of all kinds was about to he dispatched by water to the distressed. In addition to the above disastrous intelligence from the Cape, a courier arrived from the city a few hours previous to the departure of Capt. Morris, who stated that a fire broke out after the earthquake, Which, on Monday the 9th, destroyed the powder magazine, and with it the miserable remnant of the inhabitants who had escaped the earthquake. The towns of St. Nicholas and Port Paix are also said to be destroyed. Other parts of the island had not been heard from when Captain Morris left; but it is conjectured that all the towns of the north are a mass of ruins. In addition to the foregoing distressing par-

ticulars, we have the following confirmatory letters. The letters from Port-au-Princc came by l.hc William Ncilson , at New York : “ Correspondence of the Atlas. —Port-au-Prince, May 12, 5 p.m. —Just before despatching this letter, news has reached us that only one person has been saved, a Mr; Dupuy —all the others being either drowned by the sea, or crushed to death. The Cape itself is one mass of ruins.” “ Port-au-Prince, May 12.—The Cape Ilayti (town) is destroyed by an earthquake. We have no letters in this place as yet, and we much fear the reason of this is, that all the inhabitants, or the greater part of them, are buried in the ruins. Our Mr. Dupuy, who left us last night for the scene of misery, is in despair about the fate of his mother, brothers, sisters, friends, and relations. Gonaives has suffered very severely, and some lives were lost; and tb add to their misery, the shock caused some lucifer matches in a druggist’s shop to ignite, and burn down a whole square of houses. Mr. J. B. 'Dupuy’s house is one of the number, hut we hope he would he able to save a good deal. Port-au-Prince- has fered also, but only as Regarded breakage of glass-ware, &c., and the walls (of two feet thick bricks) cracked in many places half an inch wide ; at one place a brick pillar fell down also. Even here we could hardly keep on our legs, and the vessels rolled about very much. All this happened on Saturday last (the 7tli), and the earth has been in motion ever since. Yesterday we had a severe shock, and we can still, every now and then, feel the ground shake. We do not feel at all at our ease, but we hope we have passed over the worst part of it. The Cape affair is indeed awful to think of!” “ Dispatcheshavebeen received by government from the governor of Limbe, a place near the Cape, stating that after the shock he sent to that city for news. His aide-de-camp found the city destroyed, and the ruins covered by the sea, with the exception of a small portion, where were assembled the surviving inhabitants and authorities, most of the latter grievously wounded and mutilated. The absence of direct news, after a lapse of five days, makes' us fear the worst for the unfortunate ‘ capital of the north.’ The loss of life is vaguely calculated at one to two-thirds of the population. Succours of provisions, bought by subscription, are dispatched hence to-day, for the use of the miserable survivors. We make no comment on this horrible catastrophe : its effects on business and the prospects of the country arc likely to he very disastrous.” The New York Herald of the 30th ult. gives the following summary of the range and extent of the earthquake at St. Domingo, as far as was known from the accounts then received. It will be observed that the Herald disposes of the disputed theory of earthquakes by attributing them very summarily to “ internal fires we have to deal now, however, with facts, and not with theory : —“The earthquake which has recently desolated alarge portion of St. Domingo, was one of the most severe that has occurred in any part of the world for many years; and perhaps more extensive in the sphere of its operations than any since the earthquake which destroyed Lisbon in 1755. .It appears that, on the same day, and very nearly the same hour, the effects of tills recent earthquake were felt at various places, ranging from Port-au-Prince to the base of the rocky mountains. The greatest explosion from the force of internal pent-up fires was felt at Cape Haytien, St. Domingo, on the 7th instant; here they had three successive and violent shocks ; and, previous to the first of them, a shock of the earthquake was felt at Porto Rico on the morning of the 7th May, which, as far as we have yet learned, was the most easterly point that the effects of it were felt. The internal fires, it seems, then took a north-westerly direction, struggling to escape from their prison-house, and ultimately tore the ground asunder, and broke out at Cape Haytien. It stretched clear across the breadth of St. Domingo/ and was felt at Port-au-Prince on the same day, and at nearly tjie same hour. It also travelled on, and was felt at Mayaguez at the same time ; then to St. Martinville, and one or two other places in Louisiana; thence to Van Buren, Arkansas, and clear up to the foot of the rocky mountains, where it was also felt on the same day. It thus travelled at least 1,500 miles, and perhaps was felt even further. It is a sublime and awful thought; here we have proofs of the existence of a body of internal fires 1,500 miles long, and probably as many deep.”