CHILI. 199 



wants. Celidono informed them that he had been at the Port (Val- 

 paraiso) only once in five years. He seems to have all that is needful. 

 His wife was engaged in spinning with the distaff and spindle. There 

 beina^ but one room, they were accommodated on the clay floor, spread 

 with their pillions and saddle-cloths, while Celidono and his wife occu- 

 pied the bed. The temperature varied from 65-30° on their arrival, at 

 5 h 30 ,n , to 53°, at 11 p. m. 



On the morning of the 24th, the thermometer stood at 51°, on the 

 summit of the cuesta, and at 58° between nine and ten o'clock. Here the 

 scene was very different from what they had before witnessed. The 

 plain they had just left was in broad sunshine, showing distinctly its 

 many cultivated farms; that to which they were about descending was 

 a sea of dense white clouds, extending seaward as far as the eye could 

 reach, as though a vast body of white cumuli had descended and filled 

 the whole extent of the Quillota valley. These clouds kept rolling off 

 towards the sea, before the light wind, and rose gradually as they passed 

 off. They reached Mr. Blanchard's, at Quillota, at noon, when the 

 temperature was 60°, and taking their biloche, they arrived at Val- 

 paraiso in the evening. 



Having heard much about the rise of the coast, from the effects of 

 earthquakes, I was desirous of gaining all the information in relation to 

 this subject. From the residents, the accounts are so contradictory, 

 that no correct intelligence can be obtained. The decrease in the 

 depth of the bay, I have before said, can be accounted for, and 

 undoubtedly is owing, so far as it has taken place, to the wash of the 

 hills ; and the formation of a new street which has been reclaimed from 

 the bay, has given rise to the idea, and it is pointed out as having been 

 built upon ground left dry by the earthquake of 1832. Several of our 

 naturalists made a close examination of the coast in the neighbourhood, 

 the result of which on the minds of all was, that there was no proof of 

 elevation. That changes in the beaches, through the agency of the 

 heavy rollers and the northers that yearly occur, are constantly going 

 on, is quite evident ; but these, as one would naturally suppose, increase 

 the shore only in some places, while in others they are wearing it 

 away. 



Earthquakes do not appear to happen at any particular season. 

 The great one of 1730 was in July ; that of 1751, in May; and those 

 of 1822 and 1835, both of which did much damage, in February. 



Slight shocks of earthquakes are experienced very frequently through- 

 out Chili. One during our stay, on the 28th of May, started every one 

 from their beds, but the shock was not repeated. No peculiar state of 

 the weather, or other phenomenon, seems to precede them. That of 



