Notices and Extracts from the Minutes of the Geological Society. 265 



Both to the northward and southward of Valparaiso, where the coast is 

 open, namely, at Lagunilla, Vina del Mar, Con-Con, and Quintero, the sea 

 has thrown up high banks of sand, many feet above the level of the land be- 

 hind them, and reaching inland from 1000 to 2000 feet, and at Quintero to a 

 much greater extent. At this place the sand contains beds of shells ''in a 

 semi-fossil state," which are burnt by the natives for lime. Mr. Cuming visited 

 these localities previously to the earthquake, and often subsequently, but never 

 saw a shell beyond the range of high water, except those in the state above 

 mentioned, and the owners of the land declared that no change had taken place. 



Mr. Cuming also states, that about 70 years since, he believes at the same 

 time that Conception was visited by an earthquake, Valparaiso was also visited. 

 The sea retired to a very great distance, and returned with so great violence 

 that it destroyed all the houses, carrying the boats and canoes to the church 

 of San Francisco, which is about a quarter of a mile, on a gradual ascent from 

 where the tide usually flows. 



VOL. V. — SECOND SERIES. 2 M 



