GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE AT ST. THOMAS.

Southland Times, Issue 913, 9 March 1868, Page 2

GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE AT ST. THOMAS.

"Washington, Saturday, Dec. 28. The Secretary of State has received the following communication. ' The undersigned, Otto Frederick Eva- j pach, a Dane, born in the West India Islands of St Thomas, planter and estate owner in said Island, takes the liberty most submissively to lay before your Excellency a complete and accurate list of all the shocks and rumbliug noises which followed the dreadful earthquake our island experienced on the 18th of November last. My intention is not to give your Excellency a scientific description of said catastrope, but I feel, that, perhaps, the learned societies of your enlightened country may make use of such minute observations as I have made; and, if so, I shall feel highly flattered by your acceptance of them. I inclose the list, and subscribe myself your Excellency's most submissive servant. List qf shocks and rumbling sounds which followed the earthquake in the West India Islands, at St. Thomas, on the 18th of November last. The 18th of November was a beautiful clear day, with a fine blue West India sky. The wind was east by north, but there was very little of it. The ocean was quiet, there was almost a calm. The sun shone bright and warm, and the barometer stood at 24 deg., Eeaumer, in the shade. There was not the least sign ot any kind to foretell this great convulsion in nature, when suddenly, at about a quarter to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there was heard the underground rumbling noise which was immediately followed by a terrific earthquake, which seemed to come from south by west, and pass on to the north by east. The earth seemed as if composed of small waves rising and sinking under your feet, so that if you made a step forward, your foot seemed to meet higher ground, and if you put it backwards it also there met higher ground. To stand still in one spot was impossible, and when trying to walk it was as if something kept you back. The underground, sound, while the first shock was going on, for about one minute and a half, was most dreadful. It terrified every living soul. The sun seemed at once to become dim; it was as if eclipsed, and this dimness lasted that first day until sunset, and continued the whole of the next day, but in a lesser degree, and it only wore away entirely in the course of two days more. It was as if the sun, though apparently as bright as usual, had lost some of its warming and illuminating power. After the first terrific shock the ground continued groaning and trembling, when, about ten minutes after, a second strong shock was felt. Directly after this second shock the ocean, which shortly before the first shock had receded from the land several hundred feet, was seen to riae like one huge wave and come in toward the harbor. It stood up like a straight white wall, about from fifteen to twenty feet high, and advanced very fast into the harbor, sweeping or upsetting the small vessels before it, and raising the large men-of-war and steamers to its top. The appearance of this wave was like a white masonry wall, erect and straight as if built with the aid of a rule ; it had not the appearance of waves in general. It broke in over the lower parts of the town to the height of a couple of feet and to the extent of about two hundred and fifty feet inland, according to the level of the locality. This rising of the waves waß repeated a second time after an interval of about ten minutes,

and the second appeared to be even a little larger than, the first, and went a little further inland. After these two waves bad passed away the ocean remained as far as the eye could see, quite calm again, just as it was before the first shock of the earthquake had occurred. The shocks continued and were felt every few minutes. .It was as if the shocks of the first day hung together in one chain, but from 245 o'clock on the morning of the 19th November, the shocks were felt more separately and distinct, and, therefore, seemed as if they were more frequent. Prom 2-45 o'clock p.m., on the 18th till 2-45 o'clock a.m. on the 19th, there were eighty-nine shocks. Prom 245 o'clock a.m. on the 19th till midnight, there were two-hundred and thirty-eight shocks. The shocks became less severe, from the 21st of November. The writer gives the exact hours of every one, also the hour of every rumbling noise without perceptible shock accompanied. THE DISCOVERIES IN JERUSALEM. The London ' Times' publishes an interesting letter in regard to the discoveries in progress at Jerusalem, from which we select the following : — The colossal foundations of the temple wall, which are * stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits,' laid by Solomon or his successors on the throne, are now being laid bare at the enormous depth of ninety feet and more beneath the present i surface. The bridge that once spanned the ravine between the palace on Zion and the temple on Moriah, is now proved to have been upwards of one hundred and fifty feet high. If this be as it seems, the ascent to the house of the Lord which Solomon showed to the Queen of Sheba, we cannot wonder that on seeing it there was no more spirit in her. The pinnacle of the temple, on which the tempter placed the Saviour, has just been uncovered to the base, and is found still to have an elevation of 136 feet. The statement of Josephus is therefore no exaggeration. *If anyone looked from the j battlements into the valley he would be j giddy, while his sight could not reach i to such an immense depth.' Sections of the ancient wall of Ophel have been exhausted, showing that, as Josephus says, it was joined to the south-east angle of the Temple. Aqueducts, cisterns, rockhewn channels,, and passages have also been discovered within and around the harem, throwing new light on the buildings, the arrangements, and the services of the temple. The great work of a complete exploration of ancient Jerusalem is thus fairly and auspiciously commenced. The opportune visit of the Sultan and grand vizier to this country, and the representations made to the latter by the archbishop of York, followed up as they have been by the energy and wisdom and tact of Lieutenant Warren and his admirable staff, have smoothed down Moslem prejudice, removed local opposition, and thus brought about opportunities for excavation and exploration such as never occurred before ; and besides, large numbers of Arab laborers have been trained to the work and are eager to be employed ; and the exact points for successful exploration are now well known. PROGRESS OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD. The Omaha or main line of the Union Pacific Railroad is already completed a distance of five hundred and twenty-five miles from Omaha, and it is announced by the contractors that they will have thirty miles more completed and in operation on the first of January ; this will take the locomotive to Evan's Pass, which is over eight thousand feet above the sea, and the highest point on the route across the ftocky Mountains. Thus, the highest point of the two great ranges of mountains on the route are overcome almost simultaneously, though they are a thousand miles apart. Erom the Pacific the iron horse traverses the summit of the Sierra Nevadas, going east, at a height of seven thousand and forty-two feet within the distance of one hundred and five miles from Sacramento, in December; and in January we will cross the crest of the liocky Mountains coming from the Missouri, west. "What a triumph for American engineering ! The two great mountain chains of the continent are first traversed by the locomotive in winter, at a height of a mile and a half above the sea, and nearly within the region of perpetual snow ! This should silence the croakers who fear that the rigors of winter will i seriously interfere with the usefulness of ! this great continental thoroughfare. The announcement that the summit of the Rocky Mountains will be crossed soon, and at a height of more than a thousand feet above that of the Sierras, will undoubtedly surprise many of ourreaders ; | but it is accounted for by the gradual rise for a long distance. It is a singular j fact that the eastern base of the Kockyj Mountains, near the new city of Cheyenne, is nearly as high above the sea as the town of Cisco, near the summit of the Sierra Nevada. There are three or four mountain ridges in theßocky Mountain range, where the railroad has to cross, that are higher than the summit beyond Cisco, and yet the ridges themselves are not very formidable when we take into account the elevation of their base. The difficulties to be overcome by the Union Pacific road are for this reason much less than is generally supposed. The gap between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific, of about one thousand miles, ought to be finished before July, 1870, for there is no fear that the Union Pacific road will not reach Fort Bridger quite as soon as the Central Pacific. The Union has the hardest work to do, but it has the shortest distance to overcome and greater facilities to operate with. The strife between the two companies to secure the government subsidies will stimulate the work of construction, and insure a junction of the, two roads in the vicinity of Salt Lake at the earliest practicable moment. It cannot be effected too soon.— California paper,