304 CONCEPCION. (cHap. xIv. 
inhabitants (which in this one province amount to many thou- 
sands) must have perished, instead of less than a hundred: as it 
was, the invariable practice of running out of doors at the first 
trembling of the ground, alone saved them. In Concepcion 
each house, or row of houses, stood by itself, a heap or line of 
ruins; but in Taleahuano, 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, although not so completely desolated, 
was a more terrible, and, if I may so call it, picturesque sight. 
The first shock was very sudden. The mayor-domo at Quiri- 
quina told me, that the first notice he received of it, was finding 
both the horse he rode and himself, rolling together on the ground. 
Rising up, he was again thrown down. He also told me that 
some cows which were standing on the steep side of the island 
were rolled into the sea. The great wave caused the destruc- 
tion of many cattle; on one low island, near the head of the 
bay, seventy animals were washed off and drowned. It is gene- 
rally thought that this has been the worst earthquake ever re- 
corded in Chile; but as the very severe ones occur only after long 
intervals, this cannot easily be known; nor indeed would a much 
worse shock have made any great difference, for the ruin was 
now complete. Innumerable small tremblings followed tke great 
earthquake, and within the first twelve days no less than three 
hundred were counted. 
After viewing Concepcion, I cannot understand how the greater 
number of inhabitants escaped unhurt. The houses in many 
parts fell outwards; thus forming in the middle of the streets 
little hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Rouse, the English . 
consul, told us that he was at breakfast when the first movement 
warned him to run out. THe had scarcely reached the middle of 
the court-yard, when one side of his house came thundering down. 
He retained presence of mind to remember, that if he once got 
on the top of that part which had already fallen, he would be 
safe. Not being able from the motion of the ground to stand, 
he crawled up on his hands and knees; and no sooner had he 
ascended this little eminence,. than the other side of the house 
fell in, the great beams sweeping close in front of his head. 
With his eyes blinded, and his mouth choked with the cloud of 
