WHALING VOYAGE. 
205 
time very agreeably, either in collecting shells from along 
the sea shore, of which a few may be gathered,— in 
visiting the town, and mixing with its inhabitants, — 
watching the flight of the great condor, which sometimes 
measures thirty feet from the tip of each wing,— or in 
V. 
examining the curious beach which surrounds the bay, 
parts of which are formed of vast masses of agglutinated 
shells, even reaching in some places to thirty or forty 
feet above the level of the sea, rendering it an interesting 
spot for the resort of the geologist. 
It was at this place, too, that I first felt the shock of 
an earthquake, which indeed is terrible enough. It is 
said, at Peru, that the oftener the natives of the place 
feel those vibrations of the earth, instead of becoming 
habituated to them, as persons do who are constantly ex- 
posed to other dangers, they become more filled with 
dismay every time the shock is repeated, so that aged 
people often find the terror a slight shock will produce 
almost insupportable. I had been to the town of 
Coquimbo, and had returned to the port about ten in 
the evening, and, when I arrived at the edge of the bay, 
I was alarmed, and indeed all who happened to be 
present, at the sudden alteration of the appearance of 
the water in the harbour; there was a “ dead calm,” as 
sailors say, — not a breath of wind stirring; but it was a 
most delightful night, “ holy in silence, and in splendour 
bright,” when suddenly the water became much agitated, 
and being full of phosphorent animalculse, the bay resem- 
bled a vast cauldron of molten lead; and while we all 
stood in amazement, watching the fiery agitated w r aters, 
