Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

March, 1835. effects of earthquake. 371 face, for otherwise there would not exist a block of solid rock throughout Chile. This limited action is not improbable, as it is certain, that the surface of any body, when vibrating, is in a different condition from the central parts. It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not cause quite such terrific havoc within deep mines, as would at first have been expected. I believe this convulsion has been more effectual in lessening the size of the island of Quinquina, than the ordinary wear and tear of the weather and the sea during the course of an entire century. The next day I landed at Talcuhano, and afterwards rode to Concepcion. Captain FitzRoy has given so detailed and accurate an account of the earthquake, that it is almost use- less for me to say any thing on the subject ; but I will extract a few passages from my journal. Both towns presented the most awful yet interesting spectacle I ever beheld. To a person who had formerly known the places, it possibly might have been still more impressive ; for the ruins were so mingled together, and the whole scene possessed so little the air of a habitable place, that it was scarcely possible to imagine its former appearance or condition. The earth- quake commenced at half-past eleven in the forenoon. If it had happened in the middle of the night the greater number of the inhabitants (which in this one province amount to many thousands),* instead of less than a hundred, must have perished. In Concepcion, each house, or row of houses, stood by itself, a heap or line of ruins ; but in Talcuhano, owing to the great wave, little more than one layer of bricks, tiles, and timber, with here and there part of a wall left standing, could be distinguished. From this circumstance, Concepcion, al- though not so completely desolated, was a more terrible, and if I may so call it, picturesque sight. The first shock was very sudden. The invariable practice among the residents in * Miers estimates them at 40,000 ; but the towns in some of the other provinces were Hkewise overthrown. 2 B 2