A GREAT SEA-WAVE. 199 



an hour and a half after the commencement of this 

 strange disturbance, the waves still ran forty feet 

 above the ordinary level. At Iquique, the people 

 beheld the inrushing wave whilst it was still a great 

 way off. A dark blue mass of water, some fifty feet 

 in height, was seen sweeping in upon the town with 

 inconceivable rapidity. An island lying before the 

 harbour was completely submerged by the great wave, 

 which still came rushing on, black with the mud and 

 slime it had swept from the sea-bottom. Those who 

 witnessed its progress from the upper balconies of their 

 houses, and presently saw its black mass rushing close 

 beneath their feet, looked on their safety as a miracle. 

 Many buildings were indeed washed away, and in the 

 low-lying parts of the town there was a terrible loss 

 of life. After passing far inland the wave slowly re- 

 turned seawards, and strangely enough, the sea, which 

 elsewhere heaved and tossed for hours after the 

 first great wave had swept over it, here came soon to 

 rest. 



At Callao a yet more singular instance was afforded 

 of the effect which circumstances may have upon the 

 motion of the sea after a great earthquake has dis- 

 turbed it. In former earthquakes Callao has suffered 

 terribly from the effects of the great sea-wave. In 

 fact, on two occasions the whole town has been de- 

 stroyed, and nearly all its inhabitants have been 

 drowned, through the inrush of precisely such waves 

 as flowed into the ports of Arica and Chala. But upon 

 this occasion the centre of subterranean disturbance 



