CONCEPCION 
CHAP. 
328 
another like the blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay. 
The water also appeared everywhere to be boiling; and it 
“ became black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous 
smell. ” These latter circumstances were observed in the Bay 
of Valparaiso during the earthquake of 1822 ; they may, I think, 
be accounted for by the disturbance of the mud at the bottom 
of the sea containing organic matter in decay. In the Bay of 
Callao, during a calm day, I noticed, that as the ship dragged 
her cable over the bottom, its course was marked by a line of 
bubbles. The lower orders in Talcahuano thought that the 
earthquake was caused by some old Indian women, who two 
years ago being offended stopped the volcano of Antuco. This 
silly belief is curious, because it shows that experience has taught 
them to observe that there exists a relation between the 
suppressed action of the volcanoes and the trembling of the 
ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft to the point 
where their perception of cause and effect failed ; and this was 
the closing of the volcanic vent. This belief is the more 
singular in this particular instance because, according to Captain 
Fitz Roy, there is reason to believe that Antuco was noways 
affected. 
The town of Concepcion was built in the usual Spanish 
fashion, with all the streets running at right angles to each 
other ; one set ranging S.W. by W., and the other set N.W. by 
N. The walls in the former direction certainly stood better 
than those in the latter : the greater number of the masses of 
brickwork were thrown down towards the N.E. Both these 
circumstances perfectly agree with the general idea of the 
undulations having come from the S.W. ; in which quarter 
subterranean noises were also heard : for it is evident that the 
walls running S.W. and N.E., which presented their ends to 
the point whence the undulations came, would be much less 
likely to fall than those walls which, running N.W. and S.E., 
must in their whole lengths have been at the same instant 
thrown out of the perpendicular ; for the undulations, coming 
from the SAV., must have extended in N.W. and S.E. waves, 
as they passed under the foundations. This may be illustrated 
by placing books edgeways on a carpet, and then, after the 
manner suggested by Michell, imitating the undulations of an 
earthquake : it will be found that they fall with more or less 
