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 observer, 

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CH.XXVIII.] EAETIIQUAKES IN SYEIA AND CHILI IN 1837. 89 



r 



they were clieqnered, fully to tlie extent of one-third of their 

 surface^ whence trees had been shaken off.' ^^ 



The ground in 



this range, he says, was more violently shaken than in 

 Wellino-ton, and the direction of the shock was NE. and SW., 

 agreeing with that of the chain of hills. After the shock the 

 tide did not come at high water within 3 or 4 feet of its 



former height."^ 

 Mr. Weld we 



South Island during the previous 



me 



mountains 



White 



m 



Eemutal 



Map 



This fissure of 1848 w^as not more than 18 inches in average 

 width, but was remarkable for its length, for it was partly 

 traced by Mr. Weld and partly by observers on whom he 

 could rely, for 60 miles, striking north-north-east and south- 

 south-west in a line parallel to the axis of the chain. 



3 been remarked that earth- 

 The violent shock which 



folt on a line 500 miles in 



%rm, January, 1837. — It has " 

 quakes affect elongated areas, 

 devastated Syria in 1837 was ft 

 length by 90 in breadth :t more than 6,000 persons perished; 

 deep rents were caused in solid rocks, and new hot springs 

 burst out at Tabereah. 



Chili— Valdivia^ 1837. — One of the earthquakes by which 

 in the present century the position of land is known to have 

 been permanently altered is that which occurred in Chili, on 

 November 7, 1837. On that day Valdivia was destroyed, 

 and a whaler, commanded by Captain Coste, was violently 

 shaken at sea, and lost her masts, in lat. 43° 38^ S. in sight 

 of the land. The captain went on December 11 following to 

 a spot near the island of Lemus, one of the Chonos archi- 

 pelago, where he had anchored two years before, and found 

 that the bottom of the sea had been raised more than 8 feet. 

 Some rocks formerly covered at all times by the Sea were 

 now constantly exposed, and an enormous quantity of shells 

 and fish in a decaying state, which had been thrown there 



^ Eeports of Brit. Assoc. 1858, p. 105. 



t Darwin, Geol. Proceedings, vol. ii. p. 658. 



f* 



