90 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heard and window-sashes were shaken at Concepcion. After a short 

 period of rest, in January, 1865, its activity was again resumed. An- 

 tuco is only a few miles south of Chilian. It was visited by Poppig 

 in 1827, and by Domeyko in 1845, while it was in full activity, and it 

 still sends up faint columns of smoke. The Imperial, or Yaima, in 

 Araucania, was in action in 1852 and 1864, but has since not given any 

 sign of an eruption. An eruption was observed in Villarica about 

 1860, but nothing since ; and the fact that the snow on the top of the 

 mountain does not exhibit any marks of change indicates that its 

 forces are weak. Next to this volcanic center comes Osorno, to which 

 may be added others farther south that have not yet been accurately 

 observed. Among these is one at the southern end of Middle Island, 

 in the Strait of Magellan, which the men of the English ship-of-war 

 Penguin saw at the end of 1877 in full activity. Heavy subterranean 

 rumblings are no rarity in any part of Chili. 



In all only ten known Chilian craters can be pronounced with cer- 

 tainty to be now active volcanoes. Obviously the neighborhood of 

 these subterranean furnaces can not be regarded as belonging to the 

 quiet regions of the earth. No part of the earth's surface is so prolific 

 of earthquakes as the western half of South America ; and here they 

 are more frequent and severe on the Pacific coast than on the eastern 

 side of the Andes. On this coast they are often accompanied with 

 scenes of horror and woe that surpass description. To the direct con- 

 sequences in the loss of life and the destruction of buildings are fre- 

 quently added the ravages of fire breaking out in the ruins and consum- 

 ing all that has not been already crushed. The seaport towns are 

 exposed to a still further danger of destruction by the rushing tidal- 

 wave which follows the extraordinary retreat of the waters with which 

 the earthquake phenomena are usually accompanied. These evils and 

 more were suffered in their worst form during and after the earth- 

 quakes of March, 1881, with which Mendoza was visited, and August, 

 1868, which laid waste a considerable stretch of the coast, with many 

 towns. 



With these volcanic and seismic phenomena is associated a steady 

 elevation of the Chilian coast, which has amounted, according to the 

 indications of the shore-terraces, to from six metres at Cape Three 

 Mountains, to three hundred and ninety-seven metres at Concepcion, 

 within the present geological period. Darwin has averaged the rate at 

 about seventeen centimetres a year. The Island of Santa Maria, in the 

 northwest of the Bay of Arauco, rose three metres during the earth- 

 quake of 1835, but afterward sank to its old level. Depressions also 

 seem to have taken place in former periods. The elevating force is 

 more intensive in the Chilian Andes than in the neighboring countries, 

 and, as it is still in operation, it is destined probably to carry the lofti- 

 est peaks of the Cordilleras to a still greater height. The frequent 

 occurrence of the ending huapi — Indian for island — in the names of 



