340 A CURIOUS COINCIDENCE, [chap. xvi. 



person had lately lost all his property at Talcahuano, and he 

 himself had only just escaped a falling roof at Valparaiso, 

 in 1822. He mentioned a curious coincidence which then 

 happened : he was playing at cards, when a German, one 

 of the party, got up and said he would never sit in a room 

 in these countries with the door shut, as, owing to his 

 having done so, he had nearly lost his life at Copiapo. 

 Accordingly he opened the door ; and no sooner had he done 

 this, than he cried out, " Here it comes again!" and the 

 famous shock commenced. The whole party escaped. The 

 danger in an earthquake is not from the time lost in opening 

 a door, but from the chance of its becoming jammed by the 

 movement of the walls. 



It is impossible to be much surprised at the fear which 

 natives and old residents, though some of them known to be 

 men of great command of mind, so generally experience 

 during earthquakes. I think, however, this excess of 

 panic may be partly attributed to a want of habit in 

 governing their fear, as it is not a feeling they are ashamed 

 of.' Indeed, the natives do not like to see a person 

 indifferent. I heard of two Englishmen who, sleeping in 

 the open air during a smart shock, knowing that there was 

 no danger, did not rise. The natives cried out indignantly, 

 ' ' Look at those heretics, they will not even get out of their 

 beds ! " 



I spent some days in examining the step-formed terraces 

 of shingle, first noticed by Captain B. Hall, and believed 

 by Mr. Lyell to have been formed by the sea during the 

 gradual rising of the land. This certainly is the true 

 explanation, for I found numerous shells of existing species 

 on these terraces. Five narrow, gently sloping, fringe-like 

 terraces rise one behind the other, and where best developed 

 are formed of shingle : they front the bay, and sweep up 

 both sides of the valley. At Guasco, north of Coquimbo, 

 the phenomenon is displayed on a much grander scale, so 

 as to strike with surprise even some of the inhabitants. 

 The terraces are there much broader, and may be called 

 plains ; in some parts there are six of them, but g'enerally 

 only five ; they run up the valley for thirty-seven miles from 

 the coast. These step-formed terraces or fringes closely 

 resemble those in the valley of San Cruz, and, except in 

 being on a smaller scale, those great ones along the whole 

 coast-line of Patagonia. They have undoubtedly been 



