half a meter wide and one and a half meters long. The earth is obtained from the flood plain of the Copiapó River and is molded in the form of rough blocks. These are laid one on top of the other to the height of the walls, which is about six feet. In almost all cases houses of this type are made without a framework of wood or any other kind of protection. Upon the tops of the walls firmer material made of adobe must be placed in order to bear the weight of the roof. The walls are then plastered over with a layer of mud to make an even surface. The roof is in most cases flat or nearly so and is composed of a framework of wood covered with cane or reed, and this in turn is covered with mud. Every year or two a fresh layer of mud is plastered over the old layer, a thick and heavy mass being built up in this way. Houses of this type can be constructed at little cost.
More expensive is the adobe type of house, also made of thin blocks of earth molded and dried but supported in critical places by wooden uprights and of crude construction which give a wall of greater flexibility. The outer surface of the wall is plastered over as in the former case. The brea type is made of bundles of this shrub fastened against wooden uprights, and the outside is covered with a layer of mud as in the preceding types. The mud adheres to the brea, and the whole wall has greater flexibility than in the previous cases. In the fourth type of house vertical uprights are put in place; against the out- side is attached a layer of cane, and the whole covered with mud. This type of wall has still greater flexibility, but it is necessary to import the cane from Ecuador and its high cost prohibits its use among all but the well-to-do.
Linnemann studied the earthquake of December 4, 1918, with special reference to the damage done to different types of structures. The houses are sixty or eighty years old for the most part, and the greater number are rented. Practically no house was free from damage of some kind. But of a total of 1630 houses in Copiapó, 344, or nearly 21 per cent, were totally destroyed. Of seriously injured there were 349; and the rest, or 944, that is to say 57.8 per cent, suffered injuries of little im- portance.
