226 CONCEPCION. [CIIAP. xiv, 



The island of Juan Fernandez, 360 miles to the N.E., was, at the 

 time of the great shock of the 2Oth, violently shaken, so that the trees 

 beat against each other, and a volcano burst forth under water close to 

 the shore : these facts are remarkable because this island, during the 

 earthquake of 1751, was then also affected more violently than other 

 places at an equal distance from Concepcion, and this seems to show 

 some subterranean connection between these two points. Chiloe, 

 about 340 miles southward of Concepcion, appears to have been 

 shaken more strongly than the intermediate district of Valdivia, where 

 the volcano of Villarica was noways affected, whilst in the Cordillera in 

 front of Chiloe, two of the volcanos burst forth at the same instant in 

 violent action. These two volcanos, and some neighbouring ones, 

 continued for a long time in eruption, and ten months afterwards were 

 again influenced by an earthquake at Concepcion. Some men, cutting 

 wood near the base of one of these volcanos, did not perceive the 

 shock of the 2oth, although the whole surrounding Province was then 

 trembling ; here we have an eruption relieving and taking the place 

 of an earthquake, as would have happened at Concepcion, according 

 to the belief of the lower orders, if the volcano of Antuco had not been 

 closed by witchcraft. Two years and three-quarters afterwards, 

 Valdivia and Chiloe were again shaken, more violently than on the 

 2oth, and an island in the Chonos Archipelago was permanently 

 elevated more than eight feet. It will give a better idea of the scale 

 of these phenomena, if (as in the ease of the glaciers) we suppose 

 them to have taken place at corresponding distances in Europe : then 

 would the land from the North Sea to the Mediterranean have beer 

 violently shaken, and at the same instant of time a large tract of the 

 eastern coast of England would have been permanently elevated, 

 together with some outlying islands, a train of volcanos on the coast 

 of Holland would have burst forth in action, and an eruption taken 

 place at the bottom of the sea, near the northern extremity of Ireland 

 and lastly, the ancient vents of Auvergne, Cantal, and Mont d'Or 

 would each have sent up to the sky a dark column of smoke, and 

 have long remained in fierce action. Two years and three-quarters 

 afterwards, France, from its centre to the English Channel, would have 

 been again desolated by an earthquake, and an island permanently 

 upraised in the Mediterranean. 



The space, from under which volcanic matter on the 2oth was 

 actually erupted, is 720 miles in one line, and 400 miles in another 

 line at right angles to the first : hence, in all probability, a subterranean 

 lake of lava is here stretched out, of nearly double the area of the 

 Black Sea. From the intimate and complicated manner in which 

 the elevatory and eruptive forces were shown to be connected during 

 this train of phenomena, we may confidently come to the conclusion, 

 that the forces which slowly and by little starts uplift continents, and 

 those which at successive periods pour forth volcanic matter from open 

 orifices, are identical. From many reasons, I believe that the frequent 

 quakings of the earth on this line of coast, are caused by the rending 

 of the strata, necessarily consequent on the tension of the land when 



