upraising of' the Land of' Chili denied. 209 



if not now assailed, soon be deemed unassailable), that a district 

 in Chili, 100,000 miles in area, " was uplifted to the average 

 height of a foot or more ; and the cubic contents of the granitic 

 mass added in a few hours to the land.*" By what means we 

 get the average I do not know. Mrs Graham says the altera- 

 tion of level at Valparaiso was about three feet ; at Quintero 

 about four feet ; but the granitic mass ! has the geological struc- 

 ture of Chili been sufficiently examined to assure us that granite 

 extends over 100,000 square miles ? 



In the well known work of Molina, a Jesuit who passed the 

 greater part of his life in Chili, and wrote a natural history of 

 that country, I find no ground for supposing that in any earth- 

 quakes which took place there from the time the Spaniards first 

 landed on its shores to the date of his publication, any similar 

 phenomena had been noticed. Moreover, the statement of Mrs 

 Graham, and of the writer before alluded to, respecting the ele- 

 vation of la7id which occurred during the earthquake of 1822, 

 has not been confirmed by Captain King, nor by any naval of- 

 ficer or naturalist who has since visited that region, though many 

 have visited it who had heard the circumstance, and who would 

 willingly have corroborated it if they could. But they saw no 

 traces of such an event ; and the natives with whom they con- 

 versed, neither recollected nor could be induced to believe it. 



The 16th number of the " Mercurio Chileno,*" a scientific 

 journal, contains an account of' this earthquake, by Don Camilo 

 Enriquez, which I have not been able to procure. A later 

 number refers to this account, and to another published in the 

 Abeija Argentina, a work of considerable reputation, which, by 

 the kindness of Mr Woodbine Parish, I have been enabled to 

 consult. The account there given of the earthquake of 1822 

 is strongly recommended to the reader, " as a sensible straight- 

 forward description of what actually took place, without the 

 high colouring in which ignorance, and terror, and exaggeration 

 are apt to indulge."" 



No notice is here taken of the permanent elevation of the land, 

 and the account concludes thus : — 



" The earth certainly cracked in places that were sandy or 

 marshy. I saw cracks, too, in some of the hills, but mostly in 

 the low nook where much earth had run together ; the sea was 



