EARTHQUAKES IN GEOLOGY 



diminishing in the amount of rise and fall till they 

 die out. 



The most memorable seaquake of the Chilian coast 

 was that of August 13th, 1868, when the coast of South 

 America was shaken from Ecuador to Valdivia. In 

 the town of Arica most of the buildings were thrown 

 down. A few minutes later the sea began to retire 

 slowly from the shore, so that ships anchored in seven 

 fathoms of water were left high and dry. Then the 

 sea returned like a great wall of water, which caught 

 up the ships in the roadstead and swept them inland 

 like chips of wood. Among them was the United States 

 war vessel Water -ee, which was carried inland nearly 

 half a mile and was left, little injured, on dry land 

 when again the wave receded. The wave of this catas- 

 trophe was felt far away from Chili. It was perceived 

 on the coasts of Australasia, Japan, Kamchatka, Alaska, 

 and California. In the harbour of Hakodate, in Japan, 

 a series of waves was registered on the tide-gauge. The 

 ordinary tide in that port is only about two and a half 

 to three feet. On this occasion the water rose and fell 

 a height of ten feet in twenty minutes. It had taken 

 the first wave twenty-five hours to travel the distance 

 of 7600 miles from South America. On May 9th, 1877, 

 another seaquake almost as great as this was felt in 

 many of the same places. This was on the occasion 

 of the Iquique earthquake. At Arica the stranded hulk 

 of the Wateree, which had remained high and dry for 

 nine years, was picked up and swept farther inland. 

 Like its predecessor, the wave was felt all over the 



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