Account of the Earthquake in Chili, 45 
their furniture or other effects. Rain towards the close of the 
month of Noveraber had been expected by no one, and no prepa- 
ration to defend either persons or property from its effects, had 
been made. Rain had never before fallen in the country, even at 
a small distance north of the river Maule, in the month of No- 
vember. The consequences anticipated from the rain, which, from 
appearances, was likely to continue, were of the most distressing 
nature. The total destruction of the houses which had been in- 
jured, as well as that of the goods, merchandize, and furniture, 
which had been collected, and of the growing crops, was antici- 
pated by all. Its immediate effects, had it continued, would have 
been intermitting and malignant fevers. These apprehensions 
caused the people to pass a night of indescribable agony. The 
rain, however, ceased suddenly towards morning, and the weather 
‘became settled as usual. 
“The greatest force of the earthquake appears to have been felt 
at the distance of about fifteen miles N.E. of Valparaiso; the 
whole country, from the foot of the Andes to far out at sea, has 
been raised; the rise has, however, been very unequal. 
“As the earthquake was felt at Copiapo in the north, and at Val- 
divia in the south, its extent, from north to south, exceeded nine 
hundred miles. Where the shocks were most severe, the earth 
has been raised the highest, and its not subsiding again to its for- 
mer level has probably been occasioned by the innumerable fissures 
and multitude of small cracks caused by the repeated explosions, 
by which the sanity of the whole mass has been somewhat al- 
tered. 
“ Many persons to the northward of Valparaiso thought the di- 
rection of the shocks was from the south-west, while those to the 
southward thought they came from the north-west. If the princi- 
pal force, as it appears to have been, was exerted within a circle of 
about fifty miles diameter, the centre of which was a little to the 
__N.E. of Valparaiso, the direction of the shocks might have been, as 
those at a distance, to the north and south of that space, have de- 
scribed them. Most persons who live near the coast, suppose the 
shocks to have come from seaward, either to the northward or 
