Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

418 JUAN FERNANDKS — VOLCANOES. Feb. March lower, though he could not say exactly how much. A rush of water might have shifted the loose sands of the bar ; but whether the land had sunk seemed to me very doubtful. Certainly, however, it had not risen. The island of Juan Fernandes was very much affected. Near Bacalao Head an eruption burst through the sea, in a place about a mile from the land, where the depth is from fifty to eighty fathoms. Smoke and water were thrown up during the greater part of the day, and flames were visible at night.* Great waves swept the shores of the island, after the sea had retired so much that old anchors were seen at the bottom of the anchorage. This earthquake was felt at all places between Chiloe and Copiapo : between Juan Fernandes and Mendoza. On the sea-coast, within those limits, the retiring and swelling of the ocean was every where observed. At Mendoza the motion was evenly gentle. Copiapo, Huasco, and Coquimbo felt similar, although rather more forcible undulations. Towns, and houses which lay between the parallels of thirty-five and thirty-eight, suffered extremely ; nearly all were ruined ; but northward and southward of those latitudes, slight injury was done to any building. In the parallel of thirty-three and a-half, Juan Fer- nandes suffered, yet Valparaiso, opposite, escaped uninjured. As to the state of neighbouring volcanoes, so various wei-e the accounts of their action, both after and before the earth- quake, that I had no means of ascertaining the full truth but I heard from Valdivia that directly after the earthquake all the volcanoes from Antuco to Osorno, inclusive, were in full activity.-}- * The highest summit of Juan Fernandes was " found to be burned, full of fissures and hot," in 1743. Ulloa saw a small flame there. Voyage of Juan and Ulloa ; translated by Adams. t Of another earthquake the " Araucano," of Dec. 8, 1837, states as follows " Talcahuano, Nov. 7, 1837. " Fue bastante recio y duro como cuatro o cinco minutos, con la par- ticularidad notable de haberse advertido un pequeno retroceso de la mar a cia su centre en Talcahuano, y haber quedado interrumpido por algunos dias el flujo y reflujo de sus aguas."