1835.] SHINGLE-TERRACES OF COQUIMBO. 343 
of the party, got up, and said he would never sit in a room in 
these countries with the door shut, as, owing to his having done 
so, he had nearly lost his life at Copiapd. Accordingly he 
opened the door; and no sooner. had he done this, than he cried 
out, “ Here it comes again!” and the famous shock commenced. 
The whole party escaped. The danger in an earthquake is not 
from the time lost in opening a door, but from the chance of its 
becoming jammed by the movement of the walls. 
It is impossible to be much surprised at the fear which natives 
and old residents, though some of them known to be men of great 
command of mind, so generally experience during earthquakes. 
I think, however, this excess of panic may be partly attributed 
to a want of habit in governing their fear, as it is not a feeling 
they are ashamed of. Indeed, the natives do not like to see a 
person indifferent. I heard of two Englishmen who, sleeping in 
the open air during a smart shock, knowing that there was no 
danger, did not rise. The natives cried out indignantly, “ Look 
at those heretics, they will not even get out of their beds!” 
I spent some days in examining the step-formed terraces of 
shingle, first noticed by Captain B. Hall, and believed by Mr. 
Lyell to have been formed by the sea, during the gradual rising 
of the Jand. This certainly is the true explanation, for I found 
numerous shells of existing species on these terraces. Five nar- 
row, gently sloping, fringe-like terraces rise one behind the other, 
and where best developed are formed of shingle: they front 
the bay, and sweep up both sides of the valley. At Guasco, 
north of Coquimbo, the phenomenon is displayed on a much 
grander scale, so as to strike with surprise even some of the in- 
habitants. The terraces are there much broader, and may be 
called plains ; in some parts there are six of them, but generally 
only five; they run up the valley for thirty-seven miles from 
thecoast. These step-formed terraces or fringes closely resemble 
those in the valley of S. Cruz, and except in being on a smaller 
scale, those great ones along the whole coast-line of Patagonia. 
They have undoubtedly been formed by the denuding power of 
the sea, during long periods of rest in the gradual elevation of the 
continent. 
Shells of many existing species not only lie on the surface of 
