26 
MR. CALDCLEUGH ON THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN CHILE. 
in the morning, when an immense explosion took place, which threw the water in 
every direction ; during the rest of the night great bursts of flame rising from the 
same spot illumined the whole island. Captain Simpson, about a month after, sound- 
ed near the spot in every direction and found no bottom in less than sixty-nine 
fathoms. It is worthy of remark, that when on the 24th of May 1751 the city of 
Concepcion was destroyed by an earthquake, and by the inroad of the sea, the rising 
colony of Juan Fernandez was swallowed up in a similar manner by immense rollers. 
The Governor, his family, and thirty-five persons perished by the catastrophe. 
After the earthquake the usual atmospheric changes occurred. In many places 
the most awful hurricanes completed the dismay of the inhabitants and added to the 
catastrophe. To these succeeded deluges of rain, a circumstance most unusual at 
that period of the year. At the Hot Springs of Canqueues, where the water issues at 
the temperature of 118° of Fahr., the heat was lowered after the earthquake to 92°, 
a circumstance which occurred after the shock of 1822. The diminished tempera- 
ture lasted but a short time. 
At the risk of being tedious, I have given a detail to the Society of the changes 
effected in the earth’s surface by this violent convulsion. After examining the exten- 
sive area of its vibration, after observing the uprising of an island and the adjacent 
coast, together with the eruption of a submarine volcano, it is difficult to deny that the 
same causes are still in operation which ages since raised tertiary formations to their 
present lofty site in the great range of the Cordillera. Surrounded with these con- 
tinued changes on the surface of the earth, it is impossible not to respect the opinions 
of those philosophers who conceive that the Continent of America has risen into 
existence at a more modern period than that which therefore may, with more pro- 
priety, be termed the Old World. 
Owing to the early hour on the 20th that the oscillation commenced, comparatively 
few lives were lost, but the frequent occurrence of these catastrophes, by causing 
organic defects, may very probably explain the causes of the short duration of human 
existence in these countries. 
Santiago de Chile, 
12 th June, 1835. 
