Note 175 — Chapter IV · JOÃO IV TO JOÃO VI

[This was blamed to incendiaries, though it was inevitable that in such a falling of walls many houses should be set on fire without human aid, though humankind were ready enough to seize the chance for loot. A large part of the people fled to the quays to escape the falling buildings, but there a great tidal wave found them and sweeping the wharves clean drowned men, women, and children in thousands. Voltaire’s Candide includes a notable account of the catastrophe. Estimates of the loss run from fifteen thousand to one hundred thousand lives; thirty thousand being the most generally accepted.]