CONCEPCION. [CHAP. xrv. 



by a person skating over thin ice, which bends under the weight 

 of his body. 



A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations : 

 the earth, the very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our 

 feet like a thin crust over a fluid ; one second of time has created 

 in the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflec- 

 tion would not have produced. In the forest, as a breeze 

 moved the trees, I felt only the earth tremble, but saw no other 

 effect. Captain Fitz Roy and some officers were at the town 

 during the shock, and there the scene was more striking ; for 

 although the houses, from being built of wood, did not fall, they 

 were violently shaken, and the boards creaked and rattled toge- 

 ther. The people rushed out of doors in the greatest alarm. It 

 is these accompaniments that create that perfect horror of earth- 

 quakes, experienced by all who have thus seen, as well as felt, 

 their effects. Within the forest it was a deeply interesting, but 

 by no means an awe-exciting phenomenon. The tides were very 

 curiously affected. The great shock took place at the time of 

 low water ; and an old woman who was on the beach told me, 

 that the water flowed very quickly, but not in great waves, to 

 high-water mark, and then as quickly returned to its proper 

 level ; this was also evident by the line of wet sand. This same 

 kind of quick but quiet movement in the tide, happened a few 

 years since at Chiloe, during a slight earthquake, and created 

 much causeless alarm. In the course of the evening there were 

 many weaker shocks, which seemed to produce in the harbour 

 the most complicated currents, and some of great strength. 



March 4th. We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While 

 the ship was beating up to the anchorage, I landed on the island 

 of Quiriquina. The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode 

 down to tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 

 20th : " That not a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the 

 port) was standing ; that severity villages were destroyed ; and 

 that a great wave had almost washed away the ruins of Talca- 

 huano." Of this latter statement I soon saw abundant proofs 

 the whole coast being strewed over with timber and furniture as 

 if a thousand ships had been wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, 

 book-shelves, &c., in great numbers, there were several roofs of 



