WRECK OF THE CHALLENGER. 135 



witnesses to the wide-spreading devastation oc- 

 casioned by the late earthquake. The Commo- 

 dore, with Captains Seymour and Fitzroy, made 

 visits to the ChiUan authorities at Concep9ion, 

 for the purpose of thanking them for the atten- 

 tions and assistance we had experienced, con- 

 nected with our shipwreck. 



An old English inhabitant of the city of 

 Concep9ion described the earthquake as having 

 taken place at a time when he was in the street 

 « fronting his house, overlooking the labour of 

 some workmen in building a wall that was to 

 enclose it. It was a clear sunny morning, and 

 about twenty minutes after eleven : he suddenly 

 found himself unable to stand from the heaving 

 of the earth, which increased so much that he 

 fell to the ground ; and there, on his knees and 

 hands to steady himself, he remained in a dense 

 cloud of dust, which precluded the possibility 

 of seeing any of the surrounding objects, until 

 the first dreadful shock had passed. The shrieks 

 and cries of the inhabitants, which had accom- 

 panied the destruction of the city, continued to 

 be heard far and near ; and the scene which 

 presented itself, on the clearing of the dust 

 caused by the falling of the buildings, was one 



K 4 



