3o6 EFFECT ON CONCEPCION. [chap. xiv. 



The town of Concepcion was built In the usual Spanish 

 fashion, with all the streets running at right angles to each 

 other ; one set ranging S.W. by W., and the other set N.W. 

 by N. The walls in the former direction certainly stood better 

 than those in the latter : the greater number of the masses 

 of brick-work were thrown down towards the N.E. Both 

 these circumstances perfectly agree with the general idea, 

 of the undulations having come from the S.W. ; in which 

 quarter subterranean noises were also heard : for it is 

 evident that the walls running S.W. and N.E., which pre- 

 sented their ends to the point whence the undulations came, 

 would be much less likely to fall than those walls which, 

 running N.W. and S.E., must in their whole lengths have 

 been at the same instant thrown out of the perpendicular ; 

 for the undulations, coming from the S.W., must have ex- 

 tended in N.W. and S.E. waves, as they passed under the 

 foundations. This may be illustrated by placing books 

 edgeways on a carpet, and then, after the manner suggested 

 by Mitchell, imitating the undulations of an earthquake : it 

 will be found that they fall with more or less readiness, 

 according as their direction more or less nearly coincides 

 with the line of the waves. The fissures in the ground 

 generally, though not uniformly, extended in a S.E. and 

 N.W. direction ; and therefore corresponded to the lines of 

 undulation or of principal flexure. Bearing in mind all 

 these circumstances, which so clearly point to the S.W. as 

 the chief focus of disturbance, it is a very interesting fact 

 that the island of S. Maria, situated in that quarter, was, 

 during the general uplifting of the land, raised to nearly 

 three times the height of any other part of the coast. 



The different resistance offered by the walls, according to 

 their direction, was well exemplified in the case of the 

 Cathedral. The side which fronted the N.E. presented a 

 grand pile of ruins, in the midst of which door-cases and 

 masses of timber stood up, as if floating in a stream. Some 

 of the angular blocks of brick-work were of great dimen- 

 sions ; and they were rolled to a distance on the level plaza, 

 like fragments of rock at the base of some high mountain. 

 The side walls (running S.W. and N.E.), though exceedingly 

 fractured, yet remained standing ; but the vast buttresses 

 (at right angles to them, and therefore parallel to the walls 

 that fell) were in many cases cut clean off, as if by a chisel, 

 and hurled to the ground. Some square ornaments on the 

 coping of these same walls, were moved by the earthquake 



