294 CONCEPCIOX. [CHAP. xiv. 



like tbc blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay. The 

 water also appeared everywhere to be boiling; and it "became 

 black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous smell." These 

 latter circumstances were observed in the Bay of Valparaiso during 

 the earthquake of 1822 ; they may, I think, be accounted for, by 

 the disturbance of the mud at the bottom of the sea containing 

 organic matter in decay. In the Bay of Callao, during a calm day, 

 I noticed, that as the ship dragged her cable over the bottom, its 

 course was marked by a line of bubbles. The lower orders in 

 Talcahuano thought that the earthquake was caused by some old 

 Indian women, who two years ago, being offended, stopped the 

 volcano of Antuco. This silly belief is curious, because it shows 

 that experience has taught them to observe, that there exists a 

 relation between the suppressed action of the volcanos, and the 

 trembling of the ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft 

 to the point where their perception of cause and effect failed ; and 

 this was the closing of the volcanic vent. This belief is the more 

 singular in this particular instance, because, according to Captain 

 Fitz Roy, there is reason to believe that Antuco was noways 

 affected. 



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 brickwork 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 presented 

 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 extended 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 Michell, 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, ex- 



