234 Elevation of Chiloe. paet u. 



earthquake, but no particular change of level was then 

 observed : from the habits of the people who all keep 

 boats in the protected creeks, it is absolutely impossible 

 that a rise of four feet could have taken place suddenly 

 and been unperceived. Mr. TVilliarus believes that the 

 change has been quite gradual. Without the elevatory 

 movement continues at a quick rate, there can be no 

 doubt that the sea will soon destroy the talus of earth 

 at the foot of the cliffs round the bay, and will then 

 reach its former lateral extension, but not of course its 

 former level : some of the inhabitants assured me, that 

 one such talus, with a footpath on it, was even already 

 sensibly decreasing in width. 



I received several accounts of beds of shells, existing 

 at considerable heights in the inland parts of Chiloe ; 

 and to one of these, near Catiman, I was guided by a 

 countryman. Here, on the south side of the peninsula 

 of Lacuy, there was an immense bed of the Venus 

 cost ell at a and of an oyster, lying on the summit-edge 

 of a piece of table land, 850 feet (by the barometer) 

 above the level of the sea. The shells were closely 

 packed together, embedded in and covered by, a very 

 black, damp peaty mould, two or three feet in thick- 

 ness, out of which a forest of great trees was growing. 

 Considering the nature and dampness of this peaty soil, 

 it is surprising, that the fine ridges on the outside of 

 the Venus are perfectly preserved, though all the 

 shells have a blackened appearance. I did not doubt 

 that the black soil, which, when dry, cakes hard, was 

 entirely of terrestrial origin, but on examining it under 

 the microscope, I found many very minute rounded 

 fragments of shells, amongst which I could distinguish 

 bits of serpulas and mussels. The Venus costellata, 

 and the ostrea (0. edulis, according to Captain King) 

 are now the commonest shells in the adjoining bays. 



