345 



house at Valparaiso, the two castles, and the churches, were 

 all shivered to pieces. * * * No bombardment could have 

 produced such complete ruin as the earthquake effected." 

 Mrs. Maria Graham states that the granite rocks on the 

 promontory of Quintero were rent by sharp clefts, some of 

 the larger of which were a mile and a half in length. I 

 passed some months at Valparaiso in the year 1828, six 

 years therefore after the earthquake, and heard these par- 

 ticulars confirmed by many eye-witnesses. That same year 

 I crossed the Andes to Mendoza by the Aconcagua and 

 Uspallata pass, and I was greatly surprised at the position 

 of an immense mass of rock called the " Penon rajado," or 

 " Piedra partida," the split stone, situated about half way 

 between the Cumbre and the plain of Uspallata, and 7,300 

 feet above the level of the sea. It had evidently fallen at 

 some former period from the cliffs above, and had split into 

 two large pieces and several smaller fragments, as may be 

 seen by a sketch which I made on the spot. The equilibrium 

 of both of the larger fragments appeared so precarious, that 

 notwithstanding the extreme heat of the sun's noon rays, one 

 of my travelling companions was afraid to repose under their 

 shade, convinced, as he said, " that the slightest shock of an 

 earthquake would overthrow the enormous mass, and crush 

 us to atoms." Nevertheless our capitaz, or head muleteer, 

 Pedro Aransivia, assured us that these nicely-balanced rocks 

 had not changed their position in his time, nor in that of his 

 father before him ; and that they were associated with some 

 traditions of the ancient Incas. I concluded from this cir- 

 cumstance that the great Valparaiso Earthquake had reached 

 Mendoza and St. Juan, a hundred miles further, by passing 

 under the great mass of the Andes. A strong confirmation 

 of this opinion was afforded by an intimate friend of mine, 

 who happened to be in the midst of these same mountains 

 during the great Concepcion Earthquake of the 20th Feb- 



