EARTHQUAKES. 97 



that day, the sea continued ebbing and flowing excessively, though not as daring the night ; 



ami the ship was whirled about her anchors with such frequency, that the crew were fonr 

 il.-i\s iii eleamitr her rallies. Owing to their timely escape from the town, only 25 or 30 per- 

 l..st their lives out of the entire popnhit i. n. Fatal as had proved the site of old Penco, 

 yet ouiii'j; to the opposition of the P.ishop, several years passed before it was abandoned, and 

 Conceprion relmilt \\ hen- the city now stands. 



Chillnu aluo waH prostrated by the shocks ; and the bed of the river having been dammed 

 ly them, a flood ensued, which destroyed the little left uninjured. Great was the destruction 

 at Santiago and the intermediate towns. Not yet wholly recovered from the effects of the 

 last earthquake, the churches and most of the more solid buildings of the capital were split 

 from their eaves to their foundations ; and it is said that the great bell suspended in a tower 

 of the Cathedral was thrown to the very centre of the plaza. Juan Fernandez, too, was 

 included in the disturbed region; the fortifications, garrison, and habitations of the colonists, 

 were shaken in pieces ; and the governor, his wife, and thirty-eight others, were hurried to a 

 watery grave by waves similar to those at Concepcion. 



Molina says that the course of this earthquake was from south to north, and that one of the 

 premonitory shocks, about a quarter of an hour before the fatal one, was accompanied by a 

 ball of fire that precipitated itself from the Andes into the sea. The great shocks began about 

 midnight, and continued four or five minutes each. Just before, the sky was perfectly clear in 

 every direction ; but immediately after its commencement, it became covered with black clouds, 

 that poured down continual rain for the space of eight days ; at the end of which, there was 

 a recurrence of slight tremors during a month, with intervals between each of fifteen or twenty 

 minutes. 



1783. 



The shock of 17th April, of this year, though causing considerable damage in Santiago, prob- 

 ably would not have been noted by Gay, but for the flood which occurred in the river Mapocho 

 in June following, and before the citizens had been able to repair injuries. 



1819. 



Molina says that the provinces of Atacama and Coquimbo have never suffered from earth- 

 quakes. This is incorrect. The city of Copiapo was visited by them about once in every 

 twenty-three years, viz : in 17*73, 1796, and 1819 (1818*). On this last occasion not a single 

 house was left standing. After some minor shocks, that destroyed the church of La Merced, 

 the principal one, which overthrew the town, took place on the llth April, 1819, between 8 

 and 9 in the morning. It was preceded by a noise like distant thunder; and its effects must 

 have been more destructive, had not the inhabitants had time to quit their houses.f Many 

 slabs of copper, which had been covered with sand by advances of the sea, were afterward dug 

 out again. 



1822. 



That of November 19, 1822, has been minutely described by Miers, and other writers on 

 Chile, from whose volumes I shall extract all physical concomitants pertaining to the phenome- 

 non, and quote at length the official account, which is not found in any English author 

 known to me. There were two violent shocks, that lasted from two to three minutes, destroyed 

 a large portion of Valparaiso, Quillota, Mellipilla, and Casablanca, and did much injury at 

 Santiago and other intermediate towns. The commission left in charge of the government at 

 Santiago, in writing to the supreme director, O'Higgins, casually at Valparaiso, say : " On 



* Peter Schmidtmeyer : Travels into Chile over the Andes, 

 t Encyclopaedia Britannica. Art. Chile. 



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