330 CONCEPCION chap. 



impossible to convey the mingled feelings which I experienced. 

 Several of the officers visited it before me, but their strongest 

 language failed to give a just idea of the scene of desolation. 

 It is a bitter and humiliating thing to see works, which have 

 cost man so much time and labour, overthrown in one minute ; 

 yet compassion for the inhabitants was almost instantly banished, 

 by the surprise in seeing a state of things produced in a moment 

 of time, which one was accustomed to attribute to a succession 

 of ages. In my opinion, we have scarcely beheld, since leaving 

 England, any sight so deeply interesting. 



In almost every severe earthquake, the neighbouring waters 

 of the sea are said to have been greatly agitated. The disturb- 

 ance seems generally, as in the case of Concepcion, to have 

 been of two kinds : first, at the instant of the shock, the water 

 swells high up on the beach with a gentle motion, and then as 

 quietly retreats ; secondly, some time afterwards, the whole 

 body of the sea retires from the coast, and then returns in 

 waves of overwhelming force. The first movement seems to 

 be an immediate consequence of the earthquake affecting 

 differently a fluid and a solid, so that their respective levels are 

 slightly deranged : but the second case is a far more important 

 phenomenon. During most earthquakes, and especially during 

 those on the west coast of America, it is certain that the first 

 great movement of the waters has been a retirement. Some 

 authors have attempted to explain this, by supposing that the 

 water retains its level, whilst the land oscillates upwards ; but 

 surely the water close to the land, even on a rather steep coast, 

 would partake of the motion of the bottom : moreover, as urged 

 by Mr. Lyell, similar movements of the sea have occurred at 

 islands far distant from the chief line of disturbance, as was the 

 case with Juan Fernandez during this earthquake, and with 

 Madeira during the famous Lisbon shock. I suspect (but 

 the subject is a very obscure one) that a wave, however 

 produced, first draws the water from the shore, on which it is 

 advancing to break : I have observed that this happens with 

 the little waves from the paddles of a steam -boat. It is 

 remarkable that whilst Talcahuano and Callao (near Lima), 

 both situated at the head of large shallow bays, have suffered 

 during every severe earthquake from great waves, Valparaiso, 

 seated close to the edge of profoundly deep water, has never 



