EARTHQUAKES. 103 



fortnight afterwards the tops of fifteen conical hills could bo seen within the wall of the great 

 crater; and at ni^ht ninr steady lin-s, of which seven were in a line and two straggling."* 

 No flame or smoke was observed on the Corcovado, 23 miles south ; though Dr. Darwin thinks 

 tin iv is abundant evidence t( believe that the volcanic chain, as far as Yauteles 150 miles 

 from Osorno was all'eeted not only at the moment of the great shock, but remained in very 

 unusual activity during many subsequent months. Mr. Culdcleugh statesf that two volcanoes 

 were observed in the Andes, near Talca, a few days after the 20th February, both near the 

 lake of Mondaca ; that another new vent was observed on the right bank, and near the head 

 of the Maule; and that Peteroa, Maypu, and Aconcagua had been for some months in activity. 

 Capt. Fitzroy says, that the accounts of the neighboring volcanoes, before and after the earth- 

 quake, were so various and indistinct, that he could not ascertain the truth. 



There is no information from any point further south than Chiloe ; but we have seen that 

 the violence of the disturbance was less at each increase of distance from the vicinity of 

 Concepcion. East of it at Yumbel scarcely a house remained on its foundations, and those 

 which were not prostrated were in too dangerous a condition for occupation. The time at 

 Florida, also, was reported 11 A. M. There, the earth opened in many places, and a little 

 mountain sank to such depth that it left precipitous banks round its former site, ^"rom Chil- 

 ian the only physical facts of interest related are that the noise and shock seemed to come 

 from the south, the latter following the former with the rapidity of lightning; that the sensa- 

 tion was as though the earth floated on moving billows, each instant more violently disturbed 

 by a wave greater than the undulating mass ; that it lasted about three minutes, and de- 

 stroyed buildings almost as completely as at Concepcion ; and that the rain-storm which fol- 

 lowed was preceded by a whirlwind and hail, the former of sufficient power to elevate objects 

 of much weight. Cauquenes, the Intendente says, was shaken down at 11 J, and some of its 

 people killed. Talca did not suffer so greatly. The earth began to move slowly, and without 

 noise, at twenty minutes past 11 ; and the great shocks followed, as at Concepcion, only much 

 less violently. The more substantial houses of brick and mortar were thrown down, including 

 the churches and prison. Constitucion was also numbered among the doomed cities. As at 

 Talca, the first tremor was noiseless, and excessively slow ; but the violent oscillation did not 

 continue a minute. Many fissures opened and discharged water, and great sea-waves rolled 

 in, twelve feet in height. The first came an hour and a half after the shock, and did not 

 recede for half an hour. Fifty minutes later the greatest wave rolled in, tore two schooners 

 from their anchors, and transported them among the bushes, more than a hundred yards 

 from the old river banks. J Nine waves were counted, and for forty-eight hours lesser 

 rollers carae forward. The governor, pilot, and others, thought the land had settled about 

 two feet ; as the banks of the river appeared that much lower, and there was certainly two 

 feet more water on the bar. Capt. Fitzroy was certain that no elevation had taken place, but 

 regarded the sinking of the banks doubtful, and thought the reflux of the sea might readily 

 wash away two feet of the loose sands of the bar. 



Towards the north the injuries were less and less. Curico lost the towers of its churches ; 

 Kancagua had a few walls broken. Santiago vibrated for two whole minutes, hurrying its people 

 to open places, and causing many a thought for distant fellow-countrymen who, the length of 

 the shock told them, were surely in jeopardy. At Valparaiso the sea was observed to advance 

 and recede rapidly, though without violence : Coquimbo, Huasco, Copiapo, all felt it (according 

 to newspaper accounts) at nearly the same instant, and even Mendozinos observed a gentle 

 undulation. From the sea we have information only from two points, viz : a barque bound to 

 Valparaiso, which at the time was in latitude 35, longitude 74^, and therefore nearly on the 

 line between Concepcion and Juan Fernandez ; and the second is from that island. The speed 



* Transactions Geological Society, Vol. V, second series. 



t Philosophical Transactions, 1836. 



t Padre Guzman, Vol. II ; and El Araucano, No. 234. 



