130 
NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD. 
[Ch. X. 
structure of the interior, as in Sicily, Calabria, and the Morea, 
where subterranean movements are now violent. On the other 
hand, it is a still more striking fact, that there is no example 
of any extensive maritime district, now habitually agitated by 
great earthquakes, which has not, when carefully investigated, 
3'ielded traces of marine strata, either of the Recent or newer 
Pliocene eras, at considerable elevations. 
Chili. — Conception Bay. — In illustration of the above re- 
marks we may mention, that on the western coast of South 
America marine deposits occur, containing precisely the same 
shells as are now living in the Pacific. In Chili, for example, 
as we before stated % micaceous sand, containing the fossil re- 
mains of such species as now inhabit the Bay of Conception, 
are found at the height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the 
level of the ocean. It is impossible to say how much of this 
rise may have taken place during the Recent period. We have 
endeavoured to show that one earthquake raised this part of 
the Chilian coast, in 1750, to the height of at least 25 feet 
above its former level. If we could suppose a continued series 
of such shocks, one in every century, only 6000 years would 
be required to uplift the coast 1500 feet. But we have no 
data for inferring that so great a quantity of elevation has taken 
place in that space of time, and although we cannot assume that 
the micaceous sand may not belong to the Recent period, we 
think it more probable that it was deposited during the newer 
Pliocene period. 
Peru. — We are informed by Mr. A. Cruckshanks, that in 
the valley of Lima, or Rimao, where the subterranean move- 
ments have been so violent in recent times, there are indications 
not only of a considerable rise of the land, but of that rise 
having resulted from successive movements. Distinct lines of 
ancient sea-cliffs have been observed at various heights, at the 
base of which the hard rocks of greenstone are hollowed out 
into precisely those forms which they now assume between high 
and low water mark on the shores of the Pacific. Immediately 
below these water-worn lines are ancient beaches strewed with 
* Vol. i, chap, xxv, 
