324 CONCEPCION chap. 



While the ship was beating up to the anchorage, I landed on 

 the island of Quinquina. The mayor-domo of the estate 

 quickly rode down to tell me the terrible news of the great 

 earthquake of the 20th : — " That not a house in Concepcion 

 or Talcahuano (the port) was standing ; that seventy villages 

 were destroyed ; and that a great wave had almost washed 

 away the ruins of Talcahuano." Of this latter statement I 

 soon saw abundant proofs — the whole coast being strewed 

 over with timber and furniture as if a thousand ships had been 

 wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves, etc., in great 

 numbers, there were several roofs of cottages, which had been 

 transported almost whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano 

 had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and 

 other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore. 

 During my walk round the island I observed that numerous 

 fragments of rock, which, from the marine productions adhering 

 to them, must recently have been lying in deep water, had 

 been cast up high on the beach ; one of these was six feet 

 long, three broad, and two thick. 



The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power 

 of the earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent 

 great wave. The ground in many parts was fissured in north 

 and south lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of the parallel 

 and steep sides of this narrow island. Some of the fissures 

 near the cliffs were a yard wide. Many enormous masses had 

 already fallen on the beach ; and the inhabitants thought that 

 when the rains commenced far greater slips would happen. 

 The effect of the vibration on the hard primary slate, which 

 composes the foundation of the island, was still more curious : 

 the superficial parts of some narrow ridges were as completely 

 shivered as if they had been blasted by gunpowder. This 

 effect, which was rendered conspicuous by the fresh fractures 

 and displaced soil, must be confined to near the surface, for 

 otherwise there would not exist a block of solid rock through- 

 out Chile ; nor is this improbable, as it is known that the 

 surface of a vibrating body is affected differently from the 

 central part It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason that 

 earthquakes do not cause quite such terrific havoc within deep 

 mines as would be expected. I believe this convulsion has 

 been more effectual in lessening the size of the island of 



