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large party whom he kindly took under his protection, lived for the 

 first week in a garden beneath some apple-trees. At first they were 

 as merry as if it had been a picnic ; but soon afterwards heavy rain 

 caused much discomfort, for they were absolutely without shelter. 



In Captain Fitz Roy's excellent account of the earthquake, it is said 

 that two explosions, one like a column of smoke and another like the 

 blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay. The water also 

 appeared every where to be boiling ; and it " became black, and exhaled 

 a most disagreeable sulphureous smell." These latter circumstances 

 were observed in the Bay of Valparaiso during the earthquake of 1822 ; 

 they may, I think, be accounted for, by the disturbance of the mud at 

 the bottom of the sea containing organic matter in decay. In the Bay 

 of Callao, during a calm day, I noticed, that as the ship dragged her 

 cable over the bottom, its course was marked by a line of bubbles. 

 The lower orders in Talcahuano thought that the earthquake was 

 caused by some old Indian women, who two years ago being offended 

 stopped the volcano of Antuco. This silly belief is curious, because it 

 shows that experience has taught them to observe, that there exists a 

 relation between the suppressed action of the volcanos, and the trembling 

 of the ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft to the point 

 where their perception of cause and effect failed; and this was the 

 closing of the volcanic vent. This belief is the more singular in this 

 particular instance, because, according to Captain Fitz Roy, there is 

 reason to believe that Antuco was noways affected. 



The town of Concepcion was built in the usual Spanish fashion, 

 with all the streets running at right angles to each other; one set 

 ranging S.W. by W., and the other set N.W. by N. The walls in the 

 former direction certainly stood better than those in the latter: the 

 greater number of the masses of brick-work were thrown down towards 

 the N.E. Both these circumstances perfectly agree with the general 

 idea, of the undulations having come from the S.W. ; in which quarter 

 subterranean noises were also heard : for it is evident that the walls 

 running S.W. and N.E., which presented their ends to the point whence 

 the undulations came, would be much less likely to fall than those walls 

 which, running N.W. and S.E., must in their whole lengths have been 

 at the same instant thrown out of the perpendicular ; for the undulations, 

 coming from the S.W., must have extended in N.W. and S.E waves, as 

 they passed under the foundations. This may be illustrated by placing 

 books edgeways on a carpet, and then, after the manner suggested by 

 Mitchell, imitating the undulations of an earthquake : it will be found 

 that they fall with more or less readiness, according as their direction 

 more or less nearly coincides with the line of the waves. The fissures in 

 the ground generally, though not uniformly, extended in a S.E. and N.W. 

 direction ; and therefore corresponded to the lines of undulation or of 

 principal flexure. Bearing in mind all these circumstances, which so 

 clearly point to the S.W. as the chief focus of disturbance, it is a very 

 interesting fact that the island of S. Maria, situated in that quarter, 

 was, during the general uplifting of the land, raised to neaily three times 

 the height of any other part of the coast. 



