220 CONCEPCION. [CHAP. xiv. 



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 tfh. We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While the 

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

 Quinquina. The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to tell 

 me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 2Oth : " That not 

 a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the port) was standing ; that 

 seventy villages were destroyed ; and that a great wave had almost 

 washed away the ruins of Talcahuano." 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, etc., in great numbers, there were several 

 roofs of cottages, which had been transported almost whole. The store- 

 houses at Talcahuano had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, 

 yerba, and other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore. 

 During my walk round the island, I observed that numerous fragments 

 of rock, which, from the marine productions adhering to them, must 

 recently have been lying in deep water, had been cast up high on the 

 beach ; one of these was six feet long, three broad, and two thick. 



The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power of the 

 earthquake, as the beach did that ( of the consequent great wave. The 

 ground in many parts was fissured in north and south lines, perhaps 

 caused by the yielding of the parallel and steep sides of this narrow 

 island. Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a yard wide. Many 

 enormous masses had already fallen on the beach ; and the inhabitants 

 thought that when the rains commenced far greater slips would happen. 

 The effect of the vibration on the hard primary slate, which composes 

 the foundation of the island, was still more curious ', the superficial 

 parts of some narrow ridges were as completely shivered as if they had 

 been blasted by gunpowder. This effect, which was rendered con- 

 spicuous by the fresh fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to 

 near the surface, for otherwise there would not exist a block of solid 

 rock throughout Chile ; nor is this improbable, as it is known that the 

 surface of a vibrating body is affected differently from the central part. 

 It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not 

 cause quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as would be expected. 

 I believe this convulsion has been more effectual in lessening the size 

 of the island of Quinquina, than the ordinary wear-and-tear of the sea 

 and weather during the course of a whole century. 



The next day I landed at Talcahuano, and afterwards rode to Con- 



cepcion. Both towns presented the most awful yet interesting spectacle 

 I ever beheld. To a person who had formerly known them, it 



it possibly 



