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

374 CONCEPCION. March, 1835. 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 ; bat soon afterwards heavy rain caused much discomfort, for they were absolutely without shelter. In Captain FitzRoy's paper it is said that two explosions, one like a column of smoke, and another Uke the blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay of Concepcion. The water also appeared every where to be boihng ; and it " be- came black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous smeU." I am informed by Mr. AUson, that during the earth- quake of 1822 these last-mentioned circumstances occurred in the bay of Valparaiso. The two great explosions in the first case must no doubt be connected with deep-seated changes ; but the bubbling water, its black colour and fetid smell, the usual concomitants of a severe earthquake, may, I think, be attributed to the disturbance of mud containing organic matter in decay. In the bay of CaUao, during a calm day, I noticed, that as the ship dragged her cable over the bottom, its course was marked by a Une of bubbles. The lower orders in Talcuhano thought that the earth- quake was caused by some old Indian women, who two years ago having been offended, stopped the volcano of Antuco. This silly belief is curious, because it shows that experience has taught them to observe the constant relation between the suppressed activity of volcanoes, and the trem- bUng of the ground. It M'^as necessary to apply the witch- craft to the point where their knowledge stopped ; and this was the closing of the volcanic vent. This saying is the more odd in this particular instance, because the result of Captain FitzRoy's investigation was to discountenance the beUef that Antuco (whatever might have been the case with the volcanoes further northward) was any way affected. The town of Concepcion was built in the usual Spanish fashion, with all the streets running at right angles to each other. One set ranged S.W. by W. and N.E. by E., and the other N.W. by N. and S.E. by S. The walls in the former direction certainly stood better than those in the