March, 1835. effects of earthquake. 371 



face, for otherwise there would not exist a block of solid rock 

 throughout Chile. This limited action is not improbable, as 

 it is certain, that the surface of any body, when vibrating, is 

 in a different condition from the central parts. It is, perhaps, 

 owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not cause quite 

 such terrific havoc within deep mines, as would at first have 

 been expected. I believe this convulsion has been more 

 effectual in lessening the size of the island of Quinquina, 

 than the ordinary wear and tear of the weather and the sea 

 during the course of an entire century. 



The next day I landed at Talcuhano, and afterwards rode 

 to Concepcion. Captain FitzRoy has given so detailed and 

 accurate an account of the earthquake, that it is almost use- 

 less for me to say any thing on the subject ; but I will extract 

 a few passages from my journal. Both towns presented the 

 most awful yet interesting spectacle I ever beheld. To a 

 person who had formerly known the places, it possibly might 

 have been still more impressive ; for the ruins were so 

 mingled together, and the whole scene possessed so little the 

 air of a habitable place, that it was scarcely possible to 

 imagine its former appearance or condition. The earth- 

 quake commenced at half-past eleven in the forenoon. If it 

 had happened in the middle of the night the greater number 

 of the inhabitants (which in this one province amount to 

 many thousands),* instead of less than a hundred, must have 

 perished. In Concepcion, each house, or row of houses, stood 

 by itself, a heap or line of ruins ; but in Talcuhano, owing to 

 the great wave, little more than one layer of bricks, tiles, and 

 timber, with here and there part of a wall left standing, could 

 be distinguished. From this circumstance, Concepcion, al- 

 though not so completely desolated, was a more terrible, and if 

 I may so call it, picturesque sight. The first shock was very 

 sudden. The invariable practice among the residents in 



* Miers estimates them at 40,000 ; but the towns in some of the other 

 provinces were Hkewise overthrown. 



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