CHAPTER XIV 

 CHILOE AND CONCEPCION : GREAT EARTHQUAKE 



San Carlos, Chiloe Osorno in eruption, contemporaneously with 

 Aconcagua and Coseguina Ride to Cucao Impenetrable Forests 

 Valdivia Indians Earthquake Concepcion Great Earthquake 

 Rocks fissured Appearance of the former Towns The Sea Black 

 and Boiling Direction of the Vibrations Stones twisted round 

 Great Wave Permanent Elevation of the Land Area of Volcanic 

 Phenomena The connection between the Elevatory and Eruptive 

 Forces Cause of Earthquakes Slow Elevation of Mountain- 

 chains. 



ON JANUARY the 15th we sailed from Low's Harbour, 

 and three days afterwards anchored a second time in 

 the bay of S. Carlos in Chiloe. On the night of the 

 igth the volcano of Osorno was in action. At midnight the 

 sentry observed something like a large star, which gradually 

 increased in size till about three o'clock, when it presented 

 a very magnificent spectacle. By the aid of a glass, dark 

 objects, in constant succession, were seen, in the midst of a 

 great glare of red light, to be thrown up and to fall down. 

 The light was sufficient to cast on the water a long bright 

 reflection. Large masses of molten matter seem very com- 

 monly to be cast out of the craters in this part of the Cordil- 

 lera. I was assured that when the Corcovado is in eruption, 

 great masses are projected upwards and are seen to burst in 

 the air, assuming many fantastical forms, such as trees: 

 their size must be immense, for they can be distinguished 

 from the high land behind S. Carlos, which is no less than 

 ninety-three miles from the Corcovado. In the morning the 

 volcano became tranquil. 



I was surprised at hearing afterwards that Aconcagua in 

 Chile, 480 miles northwards, was in action on the same night ; 

 and still more surprised to hear that the great eruption of 

 Coseguina (2700 miles north of Aconcagua), accompanied by 

 an earthquake felt over a 1000 miles, also occurred within 



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