The Lebanon Express

Central American Earthquakes.

A peculiar thing about living in Central America is the ease with which you become accustomed to the earthquakes. They do not come without giving due notice. You are sitting on a piazza of a hot afternoon chatting with your friends when suddenly the sky seems to grow hazy, the crows stop cawing and the buzzards quit fighting in the street. There is a general rush, and, though you may not know what is the matter you cannot help feeling uneasy. The old natives say "We are going to have a little shake," and then the house begins to rock, the tumblers fall off the table, you feel deadly sick at the stomach, and the thing is over; the sky clears, the crows begin their noisy screams and the buzzards resume their quarrel over the street offal.

There is something inexpressibly terrifying, however, about the trembling of the earth; the slightest oscillation will awaken the population of the whole town and rouse a drunkard out of the deepest stupor; but unless some considerable damage is done everybody goes to sleep again as a matter of course.—Interview with a Traveller.