chap. ix. not Horizontal. 261 



pected, from the considerable seaward slope of the 

 terraces, both up the valley of S. Cruz and up that of 

 Coquimbo, that the rising has been greater inland than 

 nearer the coast. There is reason to believe, 1 from the 

 effects produced on the water-course of a mill during 

 the earthquake of 1822 in Chile, that the upheaval one 

 mile inland was nearly double, namely, between five 

 and seven feet, to what it was on the Pacific. We know, 

 also, from the admirable researches of M. Bravais, 2 that 

 in Scandinavia the ancient sea-beaches gently slope 

 from the interior mountain-ranges towards the coast, 

 and that they are not parallel one to the other, showing 

 that the proportional difference in the amount of eleva- 

 tion on the coast and in the interior, varied at different 

 periods. 



Coquimbo to Guasco. — In this distance of ninety 

 miles, I found in almost every part marine shells up to 

 a height of apparently from 200 to 300 feet. The 

 desert plain near Choros is thus covered ; it is bounded 

 by the escarpment of a higher plain, consisting of pale- 

 coloured, earthy, calcareous stone, like that of Coquimbo, 

 with the same recent shells embedded in it. In the 

 valley of Chaneral, a similar bed occurs in which, dif- 

 ferently from that of Coquimbo, I observed many shells 

 of the Concholepas : near Guasco the same calcareous 

 bed is likewise met with. 



In the valley of Guasco, the step-formed terraces of 

 gravel are displayed in a more striking manner than at 

 any other point. I followed the valley for thirty-seven 

 miles (as reckoned by the inhabitants) from the coast 

 to Ballenar : in nearly the whole of this distance, five 



1 Mr. Place, in the ' Quarterly Journal of Science,' 1824, vol. xvii. 

 p. 42. 



2 ' Voyages de la Comm. du Nord,' &c. : also, ' Cornptes Rendus,' 

 Oct. 1842. 



