66 Proceedings. 



saved their lives from being engulphecl when the chasms 

 subsequently closed. 



One of the most destructive phenomena connected with 

 earthquakes is the rising of the sea. After the earth- 

 quake at Lima in 1746, the sea at the port of Callao rose 

 eighty feet, and, rushing over the town, destroyed nearly the 

 whole of it, drowning the greater number of the inhabitants. 

 At an earthquake occurring at Concepcion, in South 

 America, in 1835, several vessels were lying in the harbour, 

 when many great waves swept into the harbour, wrecking 

 some ships, and carrying others inland, leaving them ulti- 

 mately high and dry. Two vessels were at anchor, lying side 

 by side ; when the waves had ceased, it was found that the 

 cables were twisted together with three turns, so that the 

 vessels must have been can-ied round each other three times. 



Whether the land is ever permanently raised by earthquakes 

 is a disputed question. It has been asserted that by the 

 earthquake of Valparaiso, in 1822, the land on the western 

 shores of S. America for a distance of about fifty miles had 

 been raised three feet. It is pretty certain that in the district 

 of Cutch, in N.W. India, by a convulsion which occurred on 

 June 15th, 1819, a district containing about sixty square miles 

 was lowered so as to form a great lake over which boats could 

 sail. It is said also with some fair show of evidence that 

 adjoining land to an extent of about 750 square miles was 

 raised ten feet, so as to alter the course of the River Indus, 

 which, however, in after years broke the barrier, and forini3d 

 a new channel into the sea. 



