338 Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes. 
The scene during the first shock was appalling. ‘The trembling 
of every thing around—the boiling of the sea, as when water is heat- 
ed over a fire—the mountains and valleys rolling like the waves of 
the sea as far as the eye could reach, and producing in the inbabit- 
ants the same sensations as sea sickness—the earth opening wide, 
giving forth the most terrific moans, and laboring with internal fires, 
the sight at a distance, of the awe-stricken Catholics, fleeing, they 
knew not whither, for safety—buildings tottering in every direc- 
tion,—and now whole blocks of brick dwellings rock from their 
foundation. In their fall they meet others, and all, as if locked in 
death, sink, with a tremendous crash, into the gaping earth, leaving 
no trace of their existence save memory, and the smoke and ashes 
which arise from the confusion, then the violent rushing of the wa- 
ters over the ruins of a thickly populated town, sweeping the wrecks 
of the demolished habitations of the rich and poor, into one common 
chaos of ruin, was calculated to impress the mind of the beholder. 
with wonder and astonishment. 
The sea rose thirty feet above its ordinary level, and drove into 
the town-square the national bark Mapocho, and placed other ves- 
sels in imminent danger. On the 22d, a large portion of the island 
of Caracana, at the mouth of the bay, was swallowed up. ‘The road 
from Talcahuana to Conception is almost entirely destroyed by the 
deep fissures and sloughs which have been created ; consequently 
the destruction of property and the interruption of the channels of 
intercourse which facilitate the subsistence of a town, must be 
alarming. 
The condition of the people who formerly inhabited spacious and 
convenient dwellings, where now not even a brick is left to mark the 
spot, is one of the utmost suffering. ‘The poor people who lived in 
the country in small reed-huts have suffered but little—Their hous- 
es withstood the shocks, and to them is preserved a roof for shelter. 
Those who fled to the hills, erected little shantees, on the spots of 
land least broken up, and were compelled to be constantly at work 
procuring the food necessary to satisfy hunger. It is a most fortu- 
nate thing for the people of the country, that the shock came at 
mid-day. Had it taken place in the middle hour of night, they 
would have been compelled to flee for safety without even the one 
suit of clothing they now bave, making their suffermgs much great- 
er. Then the circumstance that the inhabitants have no other shel- 
ter than the groves, and the approaching cold season, which at Con- 
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