XIV GREAT EARTHQUAKE 323 



l?y the oldest inhabitant. I happened to be on shore, and 

 was lying down in the wood to rest myself. It came on 

 suddenly, and lasted two min,utes, but the time appeared much 

 longer. The rocking of the ground was very sensible. The 

 undulations appeared to my companion and myself to come 

 from due east, whilst others thought they proceeded from 

 south-west : this shows how difficult it sometimes is to perceive 

 the direction of the vibrations. There was no difficulty in 

 standing upright, but the motion made me almost giddy : it 

 was something like the movement of a vessel in a little cross- 

 .ripple, or still more like that felt by a person skating over thin 

 ice, which bends under the weight of his body. 



A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations : 

 the earth, the very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our 

 feet like a thin crust over a fluid ; — one second of time has 

 created in the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours 

 of reflection would not have produced. In the forest, as a 

 breeze moved the trees, I felt only the earth tremble, but saw 

 no other effect. Captain Fitz Roy and some officers were at 

 the town during the shock, and there the scene was more 

 striking ; for although the houses, from being built of wood, 

 did not fall, they were violently shaken, and the boards creaked 

 and rattled together. The people rushed out of doors in the 

 greatest alarm. It is these accompaniments that create that 

 perfect horror of earthquakes experienced by all who have 

 thus seen, as well as felt, their effects. Within the forest it 

 was a deeply interesting, but by no means an awe-exciting 

 phenomenon. The tides were very curiously affected. The 

 great shock took place at the time of low water ; and an old 

 woman who was on the beach told me that the water flowed 

 very quickly, but not in great waves, to high-water mark, and 

 then as quickly returned to its proper level ; this was also 

 evident by the line of wet sand. This same kind of quick 

 but quiet movement in the tide happened a few years since 

 at Chiloe, during a slight earthquake, and created much 

 causeless alarm. In the course of the evening there were 

 many weaker shocks, which seemed to produce in the harbour 

 the most complicated currents, and some of great strength. 



March 4th. — We entered the harbour of Concepcion. 



