330 
CONCEPCION 
CHAP. 
impossible to convey the mingled feelings which I experienced. 
Several of the officers visited it before me, but their strongest 
language failed to give a just idea of the scene of desolation. 
It is a bitter and humiliating thing to see works, which have 
cost man so much time and labour, overthrown in one minute ; 
yet compassion for the inhabitants was almost instantly banished, 
by the surprise in seeing a state of things produced in a moment 
of time, which one was accustomed to attribute to a succession 
of ages. In my opinion, we have scarcely beheld, since leaving 
England, any sight so deeply interesting. 
In almost every severe earthquake, the neighbouring waters 
of the sea are said to have been greatly agitated. The disturb¬ 
ance seems generally, as in the case of Concepcion, to have 
been of two kinds : first, at the instant of the shock, the water 
swells high up on the beach with a gentle motion, and then as 
quietly retreats; secondly, some time afterwards, the whole 
body of the sea retires from the coast, and then returns in 
waves of overwhelming force. The first movement seems to 
be an immediate consequence of the earthquake affecting 
differently a fluid and a solid, so that their respective levels are 
slightly deranged : but the second case is a far more important 
phenomenon. During most earthquakes, and especially during 
those on the west coast of America, it is certain that the first 
great movement of the waters has been a retirement. Some 
authors have attempted to explain this, by supposing that the 
water retains its level, whilst the land oscillates upwards ; but 
surely the water close to the land, even on a rather steep coast, 
would partake of the motion of the bottom : moreover, as urged 
by Mr. Lyell, similar movements of the sea have occurred at 
islands far distant from the chief line of disturbance, as was the 
case with Juan Fernandez during this earthquake, and with 
Madeira during the famous Lisbon shock. F suspect (but 
the subject is a very obscure one) that a wave, however 
produced, first draws the water from the shore, on which it is 
advancing to break : I have observed that this happens with 
the little waves from the paddles of a steam-boat. It is 
remarkable that whilst Talcahuano and Callao (near Lima), 
both situated at the head of large shallow bays, have suffered 
during every'severe earthquake from great waves, Valparaiso, 
seated close to the edge of profoundly deep water, has never 
