GREAT WAVE 327 



distance of three or four miles, approaching in the middle of the 

 bay with a smooth outline ; but along the shore it tore up 

 cottages and trees, as it swept onwards with irresistible force. At 

 the head of the bay it broke in a fearful line of white breakers, 

 which rushed up to a height of 23 vertical feet above the 

 highest spring-tides. Their force must have been prodigious ; 

 for at the Fort a cannon with its carriage, estimated at four tons 

 in weight, was moved i 5 feet inwards. A schooner was left in 

 the midst of the ruins, 200 yards from the beach. The first 

 wave was followed by two others, which in their retreat carried 

 away a vast wreck of floating objects. In one part of the bay 

 a ship was pitched high and dry on shore, was carried off, again 

 driven on shore, and again carried off. In another part two 

 large vessels anchored near together were whirled about, and 

 their cables were thrice wound round each other : though 

 anchored at a depth of 36 feet, they were for some minutes 

 aground. The great wave must have travelled slowly, for the 

 inhabitants of Talcahuano had time to run up the hills behind the 

 town ; and some sailors pulled out seaward, trusting successfully 

 to their boat riding securely over the swell, if they could reach 

 it before it broke. One old woman with a little boy, four or five 

 years old, ran into a boat, but there was nobody to row it out : 

 the boat was consequently dashed against an anchor and cut 

 in twain ; the old woman was drowned, but the child was picked 

 up some hours afterwards clinging to the wreck. Pools of salt 

 water were still standing amidst the ruins of the houses, and 

 children, making boats with old tables and chairs, appeared 

 as happy as their parents were miserable. It was, however, 

 exceedingly interesting to observe how much more active and 

 cheerful all appeared than could have been expected. It was 

 remarked with much truth, that from the destruction being 

 universal, no one individual was humbled more than another, or 

 could suspect his friends of coldness — that most grievous result 

 of the loss of wealth. Mr. Rouse, and a 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 



