New Hampshire Statesman

EARTHQUAKE IN ALGIERS

Letters from Algiers, to March 7th, give melancholy details of the Earthquake in that Regency. The town of Bilda had been totally destroyed; and out of population of 15,000 souls, only about 300 have been saved, and some of them sadly mutilated. There had been thirteen shocks from Wednesday to Sunday evening. 7000 dead bodies had been dug out of the ruins. In one spot, supposed to be a Jewish Seminary, the bodies of 280 children were found. The first earthquake having occurred at ten o'clock the hour of prayer, great numbers were buried in the ruins of the mosques. In the immediate neighbourhood of the town, the earth has opened in large interstices of from eight to ten feet wide, and as many deep; and it is worthy of remark, that the same phenomenon which generally precedes the eruption of Etna and Vesuvius, occurred at Bilda—namely, all the wells and fountains in the neighbourhood became perfectly dry.

The troops which the Government sent out to prevent plunder have been attacked by vast hordes of the Kabails, and have thus added to the work of death. The Kabails are of a race totally distinct from the Turks, Moors, or Arabs: they are the descendants of the ancient Numidians, and inhabit the mountains of this part of Africa, are perfectly independent, and have never been subdued by the Turks: As an act of grace,—the Dey has manumitted all the slaves, and has ordered a public thanksgiving for the salvation of this city.

There is one circumstance which I have omitted to mention that an excellent barometer I have, kept gradually falling for some days before the earthquake, whilst the weather indicated no change whatever, other than that on the day it happened my thermometer rose suddenly from 58 to 62 1-2 degrees, which is very extraordinary occurrence.