<835.] GREAT EARTHQUAKE. dOi 



officers, and landed near the fort called Niebla. The buildings 

 were in a most ruinous state, and the gun-carriages quite rotten. 

 Mr. Wickham remarked to the commanding officer, that with 

 one discharge they would certainly all fall to pieces. The poor 

 man, trying to put a good face upon it, gravely replied, " No, I 

 am sure, sir, they would stand two ! " The Spaniards must have 

 intended to have made this place impregnable. There is now 

 lying in the middle of the courtyard a little mountain of mortar, 

 which rivals in hardness the rock on which it is placed. It was 

 brought from Chile, and cost 7000 dollars. The revolution 

 having broken out, prevented its being applied to any purpose, 

 and now it remains a monument of the fallen greatness of 

 Spain. 



I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a half distant, but 

 my guide said it was quite impossible to penetrate the wood in a 

 straight line. He offered, however, to lead me, by following 

 obscure cattle-tracks, the shortest way : the walk, nevertheless, 

 took no less than three hours ! This man is employed in hunting 

 strayed cattle ; yet, well as he must know the woods, he was not 

 long since lest for two whole days, and had nothing to eat. 

 These facts convey a good idea of the impracticability of the 

 forests of these countries. A question often occurred to me — 

 how long does any vestige of a fallen tree remain? This man 

 showed me one which a party of fugitive royalists had cut down 

 fourteen years ago ; and taking this as a criterion, I should think 

 a bole a foot and a half in diameter would in thirty years be 

 changed into a heap of mould. 



February 20th. — This day has been memorable in the annals 

 of Valdivia, for the most severe earthquake experienced by the 

 oldest inhabitant. I happened to be on shore, and was lying 

 down in the wood to rest myself. It came on suddenly, and 

 lasted two minutes, but the time appeared much longer. The 

 rocking of the ground was very sensible. The undulations ap- 

 peared to my companion and myself to come from due east, 

 whilst others thought they proceeded from south-west : this shows 

 how difficult it sometimes is to perceive the direction of the 

 vibrations. There was no difficulty in standing upright, but the 

 motion made me almost giddy : it was something like the move- 

 ment of a vessel in a little cross-ripple, or still more like that felt 



