Tidal Waves at Talcakuana. 93 



man, and with a hissing, seething roar rushed upon 

 the town, crushing down the crumbling walls, level- 

 ing them like chaff, and in many instances utterly 

 removing all evidence of human habitation. As the 

 wave swept by the fort it caught a cannon weighing 

 four tons and threw it one side. A large schooner 

 was carried six hundred feet from the beach and left 

 amid the ruins. 



This wave was followed by two others that car- 

 ried off a large amount of wreckage. A large ship 

 was lifted high and dry upon the shore, then borne 

 off by a second wave, to be again forced up and car- 

 ried off by the third wave. Another vessel anchored 

 in thirty-six feet of water was suddenly left aground, 

 while another was whirled around so that her anchor- 

 chain became twisted about that of a vessel anchored 

 near by ; these being but a few of the singular fea- 

 tures of the catastrophe. 



To illustrate the utter destitution of the people, 

 Darwin states that Mr. Rouse, the English consul, 

 took a party under his care for a week, the protec- 

 tion being simply an apple-tree in his garden. At 

 the end of that time it began to rain, and even then 

 the people could find no shelter, so complete had 

 been the ruin. 



In his inquiries Darwin learned that the natives 

 laid all the trouble to an old Indian woman, who, 

 two years previous, was supposed to have stopped 

 up the volcano of Antuco in a fit of rage, and as 

 this particular volcano did not burst forth with the 

 others at this time, it was all the more difficult to 

 convince them that they were in the wrong. 



