Destruction of Concepcion. 9 1 



when the Beagle sailed into Concepcion harbour a few- 

 days later he landed at the island of Quiriquina, 

 where he was told that the destruction of Concep- 

 cion was complete, and that seventy villages were 

 destroyed. 



The moment he stepped upon the beach he saw 

 evidences of this, the sands being covered with 

 wreckage of all kinds : furniture, casks, pieces of 

 houses, and objects of a most varied character, which 

 had been brought from the land by the tidal wave of 

 February 20th. Great rocks were found high above 

 the water, that had a few days before been sub- 

 merged, and huge fissures crossed the island in vari- 

 ous directions, while masses of high land had fallen 

 to the beach ; this was on so large a scale that Dar- 

 win estimated that the destruction caused a reduc- 

 tion in the size of the island more than equal to the 

 natural wear and tear of a century. 



The day following his examination of the island 

 Darwin landed at Talcahuana and rode to the site 

 of Concepcion. What had been a prosperous and 

 substantial city was an unrecognisable ruin — a mass 

 of broken stone thrown this way and that, heaped 

 in inexplicable confusion. The first shock was felt 

 at 11:30, identical with the one experienced by the 

 naturalist as he lay in the woods. At the first quiver 

 the people rushed into the streets, as they had 

 done many a time before, and thinking there would 

 be no more, turned to go back when another shock 

 came, and every house crumbled and fell with a 

 crash. The shrieks of dead and dying rent the air, 

 while a white suffocating cloud rose and hung like a 



