then suddenly fire burst from the meneltarma , and there came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth , and the sky reeled , and the hills slid , and numenor went down into the sea , with all its children and its wives and its maidens and its ladies proud ; and all its gardens and its balls and its towers , its tombs and its riches , and its jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven , and its lore : they vanished for ever .