2L'0 CONCEPCION. [CHAP. xiv. 



great waves, to high-water mark, and then as quickly returned to 

 its proper level ; this was also evident by the line of wet sand. This 

 same kind of quick but quiet movement in the tide happened a 

 few years since at Chiloe, during a slight earthquake, and created 

 much causeless alarm. In the course of the evening there were 

 many weaker shocks, which seemed to produce in the harbour the 

 most complicated currents, and some of great strength. 



Uh. We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While the 

 ship was beating up to the anchorage, I landed on the island of 

 Quiriquina. The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to 

 tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 20th : 

 " That not a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the port) was 

 standing ; that seventy villages were destroyed ; and that a great 

 wave had almost washed away the ruins of Talcuhuano." Of this 

 latter statement I soon saw abundant proofs the whole coast being 

 strewed over with timber and furniture as if a thousand ships had 

 been wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves, etc., in great 

 numbers, there were several roofs of cottages, which had been 

 transported almost whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano had 

 been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable 

 merchandise were scattered on the shore. During my walk round 

 the island, I observed that numerous fragments of rock, which, 

 from the marine productions adhering to them, must recently have 

 been lying in deep water, had been cast up high on the beach ; one 

 of these was six feet long, three broad, and two thick. 



The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power 

 of the earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent great 

 wave. The ground in many parts was fissured in north and south 

 lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of the parallel and steep sides 

 of this narrow island. Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a 

 yard wide. Many enormous masses had already fallen on the 

 beach ; and the inhabitants thought that when the rains commenced 

 far greater slips would happen. The effect of the vibration on the 

 hard primary slate, Avhich composes the foundation of the island, 

 was still more curious : the superfical parts of some narrow ridges 

 were as completely shivered as if they had been blasted by gun- 

 powder. This effect, which was rendered conspicuous by the fresh 

 fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to near the surface, 

 for otherwise; there would not exist a block of solid rock through- 



