422 TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS. 



conceive. From San Jose to near the side track at Cbacalluta, fully 

 four miles, the railway track has been torn np and obliterated, the large 

 sand-banks at Chiucoro have disappeared, and an open, level beach 

 remains. The vessel Wateree is on the pampa five hundred yards inland, 

 and about eighty from the highest ground ; the America lies in the same 

 line, about two hundred yards nearer the seaj while between them are 

 the shattered remains of the Chanarcillo. 



The waves approached nearer the hills than I ever could have thought 

 possible, and the pampa for miles is strewn with wreck. The beach all 

 along is covered with large stones, mixed up with sea-weeds, pieces of 

 wood, of furniture, of machinery, and of boats and vessels 5 the mixture, 

 which also includes rags, and abundance of papers, custom-house doc- 

 uments, etc., is, however, quite beyond any attempt at description. 



Very few people can give a clear account of the catastrophe. Almost 

 all appear to have been paralyzed with fear, and certainly they had 

 good cause. IS ugent is almost the only one who appears to have been 

 collected and to have watched the progress of events. He says that 

 when the sea receded, the anchorage of the steamers, which was in 

 seven fathoms (forty-two feet) water, remained dry ; that all the vessels 

 were dragged seaward except the Chanarcillo and A. Eiviere, wliich 

 remained aground, and high and dry at their anchorage. Many minutes 

 elapsed, during which the sea appeared to be gathering itself up, until 

 at last it came like an enormous dark green wall, and swallowed up 

 everything it could reach. The wave came over the top of the custom 

 house, which will give some idea of its altitude. 



The line to which it reached is forty-five feet nine inches above high- 

 water level, which, added to the forty-two feet that it had receded, will 

 give a wave nearly ninety feet in height. The current was very strong, 

 the log of the Wateree says sixteen miles, and appears to have been 

 circular like a whirlpool. The vessels could do nothing, and were car- 

 ried about like chips. The A. Eiviere was never seen again, but frag- 

 ments of her wreck were washed ashore. The ChaGarcillo, a much 

 stronger vessel, came on shore completely smashed ; and from the fact 

 of her having five or six turns of her cables around her hull, wesurmi.se 

 that she must have turned over as many times before her anchor parted. 



The loss of life so far ascertained is about five hundred and fifty, 

 between the town and the bay. There were some singular escapes. 

 John Williams's wife and children were carried in and out by the waves, 

 of which there were eleven in all, a number of times, and were finally 

 deposited on the high ground. Vacarro, who, having a broken leg, 

 was placed by his friends in a large launch, was carried in and oat 

 every time, and was left at last among the ruins of the church of San 

 Francisco. Eusert's horse at the mill was carried off by the waves, and 

 two days afterward was found unhurt on the little island in the middle 

 of the Sisera. 



Matters in Arica are still in a bad way, as you may judge for your- 



