vertical feet above the highest spring-tides. Their force must have
been prodigious; for at the Fort a cannon with its carriage, estimated
at four tons in weight, was moved 15 feet inwards. A schooner was left
in the midst of the ruins, 200 yards from the beach. The first wave
was followed by two others, which in their retreat carried away a vast
wreck of floating objects. In one part of the bay, a ship was pitched
high and dry on shore, was carried off, again driven on shore, and
again carried off. In another part, two large vessels anchored near
together were whirled about, and their cables were thrice wound round
each other; though anchored at a depth of 36 feet, they were for some
minutes aground. The great wave must have travelled slowly, for the
inhabitants of Talcahuano had time to run up the hills behind the town;
and some sailors pulled out seaward, trusting successfully to their
boat riding securely over the swell, if they could reach it before it
broke. One old woman with a little boy, four or five years old, ran
into a boat, but there was nobody to row it out: the boat was
consequently dashed against an anchor and cut in twain; the old woman
was drowned, but the child was picked up some hours afterwards clinging
to the wreck. Pools of salt-water were still standing amidst the ruins
of the houses, and children, making boats with old tables and chairs,
appeared as happy as their parents were miserable. It was, however,
exceedingly interesting to observe, how much more active and cheerful
all appeared than could have been expected. It was remarked with much
truth, that from the destruction being universal, no one individual was
humbled more than another, or could suspect his friends of
coldness--that most grievous result of the loss of wealth. Mr. Rouse,
and a large party whom he kindly took under his protection, lived for
the first week in a garden beneath some apple-trees. At first they were
as merry as if it had been a picnic; but soon afterwards heavy rain
caused much discomfort, for they were absolutely without shelter.
In Captain Fitz Roy's excellent account of the earthquake, it is said
that two explosions, one like a column of smoke and 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
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