alarm. In the course of the evening there were many weaker shocks,
which seemed to produce in the harbour the most complicated currents,
and some of great strength.
March 4th.--We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While the ship was
beating up to the anchorage, I landed on the island of Quiriquina. The
mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to tell me the terrible news
of the great earthquake of the 20th:--"That not a house in Concepcion
or Talcahuano (the port) was standing; that seventy villages were
destroyed; and that a great wave had almost washed away the ruins of
Talcahuano." Of this latter statement I soon saw abundant proofs--the
whole coast being strewed over with timber and furniture as if a
thousand ships had been wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves,
etc., in great numbers, there were several roofs of cottages, which had
been transported almost whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano had been
burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable
merchandise were scattered on the shore. During my walk round the
island, I observed that numerous fragments of rock, which, from the
marine productions adhering to them, must recently have been lying in
deep water, had been cast up high on the beach; one of these was six
feet long, three broad, and two thick.
The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power of the
earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent great wave. The
ground in many parts was fissured in north and south lines, perhaps
caused by the yielding of the parallel and steep sides of this narrow
island. Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a yard wide. Many
enormous masses had already fallen on the beach; and the inhabitants
thought that when the rains commenced far greater slips would happen.
The effect of the vibration on the hard primary slate, which composes
the foundation of the island, was still more curious: the superficial
parts of some narrow ridges were as completely shivered as if they had
been blasted by gunpowder. This effect, which was rendered conspicuous
by the fresh fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to near the
surface, for otherwise there would not exist a block of solid rock
throughout Chile; nor is this improbable, as it is known that the
surface of a vibrating body is affected differently from the central
part. It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do
not cause quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as would be
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