328 CONCEPCION chap. 



another like the blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay. 

 The water also appeared everywhere to be boiling ; and it 

 " became black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous 

 smell. " These latter circumstances were observed in the Bay 

 of Valparaiso during the earthquake of 1 822 ; they may, I think, 

 be accounted for by the disturbance of the mud at the bottom 

 of the sea containing organic matter in decay. In the Bay of 

 Callao, during a calm day, I noticed, that as the ship dragged 

 her cable over the bottom, its course was marked by a line of 

 bubbles. The lower orders in Talcahuano thought that the 

 earthquake was caused by some old Indian women, who two 

 years ago being offended stopped the volcano of Antuco. This 

 silly belief is curious, because it shows that experience has taught 

 them to observe that there exists a relation between the 

 suppressed action of the volcanoes and the trembling of the 

 ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft to the point 

 where their perception of cause and effect failed ; and this was 

 the closing of the volcanic vent. This belief is the more 

 singular in this particular instance because, according to Captain 

 Fitz Roy, there is reason to believe that Antuco was noways 

 affected. 



The town of Concepcion was built in the usual Spanish 

 fashion, with all the streets running at right angles to each 

 other ; one set ranging S.W. by W., and the other set N.W. by 

 N. The walls in the former direction certainly stood better 

 than those in the latter : the greater number of the masses of 

 brickwork were thrown down towards the N.E. Both these 

 circumstances perfectly agree with the general idea of the 

 undulations having come from the S.W. ; in which quarter 

 subterranean noises were also heard : for it is evident that the 

 walls running S.W. and N.E., which presented their ends to 

 the point whence the undulations came, would be much less 

 likely to fall than those walls which, running N.W. and S.E., 

 must in their whole lengths have been at the same instant 

 thrown out of the perpendicular ; for the undulations, coming 

 from the S.W., must have extended in N.W. and S.E. waves, 

 as they passed under the foundations. This may be illustrated 

 by placing books edgeways on a carpet, and then, after the 

 manner suggested by Michell, imitating the undulations of an 

 earthquake : it will be found that they fall with more or less 



