1835. 



HEIGHT OF WAVE CONTRASTS. 



411 



then bursting, poured forth black, fetid, sulphureous water. 

 Near Concepcion similar outbursts of water were seen, and 

 similarly described. 



By a marked part of the wall of Captain Delano's house, it 

 was ascertained that the body of water reached twenty-five feet 

 above the usual level of high water. It penetrated into the 

 ' altos,"*'* and left sea- weed hanging to the remains of roofs, or 

 to the tops of broken walls. But this must not be taken as the 

 general height of the wave. A body of water, rushing upon 

 a sloping beach with such force, would naturally preserve its 

 impetus for some time, and run up the inclined plane, to a great 

 height. Those who watched the waves coming in, considered 

 them, while beyond the shipping, about as high as the upper 

 part of the hull of a frigate ; or from sixteen to twenty feet 

 above the level of the rest of the water in the bay. Only those 

 parts of the wave which encountered opposition broke, until 

 within half a mile of the beach, when the roar became appall- 

 ing. Persons who were standing on the heights, overlooking 

 both bays, saw the sea come swelling into San Vicente at the 

 same time that it advanced upon Talcahuano. The explosion 

 in San Vicente, and the sea advancing from both sides, made 

 them think that the peninsula of Tumbes was about to be 

 separated from the main land, and many ran up the hills until 

 they had reached the very highest point. 



Strange extremes of inj ury and harmlessness were among the 

 effects of these overwhelming waves. Buildings were levelled, 

 heavy twenty-four pound guns were moved some yards, and 

 upset; yet a child was carried to sea uninjured; and window- 

 frames, with the glass in them, were thrown ashore upon the 

 island of Quiriquina without a pane being broken ! According 

 to a register, kept by Captain Delano, it appears that his baro- 

 meter fell four or five tenths of an inch between the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth of February, and was still falling on the morn- 

 ing of the eighteenth, after which it rose again. So great °[- and 



* First floor rooms. 



t In Concepcion a fall of two or three tenths indicates bad weather; 

 four or five tenths a g-ale of wind, with much rain. 



