Leave Chilóe--Valdivia--Earthquake--Aborigines--Traditions--Words
--Convicts--Tolten--Boroa--Imperial--Mocha--Shocks of Earthquake
--Anchor off Talcahuano--Ruins--Account of a great Earthquake,
which destroyed the city of Concepcion; and was felt from Chilóe
to Copiapó; from Juan Fernandes to Mendoza.
At daylight on the 5th of February the Beagle sailed from Chilóe,
and passed along the coast of southern Chile, towards the port of
Valdivia. This is a bold and high tract of land, without a danger for
shipping to avoid; but, at the same time, without a safe anchorage
between the ports above-mentioned. Soundings extend some miles into
the offing, though the water is deep. At two miles westward of this
shore we usually found about forty fathoms water; at three miles
about sixty, and at five miles from seventy to eighty or ninety
fathoms, with a soft, sandy, or muddy bottom.
Whenever, as in this case, we were obliged to carry on the survey
without landing, our observations for latitude--often those for time
also--were made at the opposite points of the horizon, as well as in
the usual manner, when land did not intervene, and the mean results
taken as the most correct. In this way, it is probable that errors
occasioned by refraction were in a considerable degree avoided.[1]
The day before arriving at Valdivia we had a strong northerly wind,
with cold, rainy weather, though the glasses were high. Such an
anomaly I have elsewhere noticed, especially in Tierra del Fuego; but
any attempt to explain it must be deferred. Another singularity was
the temperature of the ocean, not being higher than that near the
Chonos Archipelago, and very little warmer than that of Magalhaens
Strait: this fact will also be recurred to again.
Feb. 8th. We anchored in the deceiving port of Valdivia. I say
deceiving, because it offers to the eye ample space and the utmost
security, while, in fact, the safe anchorage is very limited; so
much mud and sand being brought down by the river that extensive
banks are formed, and increase yearly. We were struck by the apparent
strength of the fortresses, built originally by the Dutch in 1643,
but improved and increased by the Spaniards. Now, however, their
strength is but apparent; for a closer inspection shows that they are
almost in ruins and the guns out of order; indeed so nearly disabled,
that they could hardly fire a salute without danger. Around the port
are high hills, completely covered with wood; and they attract clouds
so much, that almost as great a quantity of rain falls there as on
the western shores of Chilóe. Several rivers empty themselves at this
one mouth, which is the only opening among hills that form a barrier
between the ocean and an extensive tract of champaign country,[2]
reaching to the Cordillera of the Andes. The principal of these
rivers are the Calla-calla[3] and the Cruces; their tributaries are
very numerous, few countries being better watered by running streams
than that about Valdivia.
Every facility and kindness in his power was offered to us by Don
Isaac Thompson, the Yntendente:--and by his secretary, Don Francisco
Solano Perez, I was presented with a rare edition of Febrés’s ‘Arte
de la Lengua Chilena,’ which has been of much use in explaining the
meaning of aboriginal words and names. Don Francisco wished me to
take another curious work, but I declined; and have often regretted
since that I did not ask him to let me copy a map in it which
contained the tracks of Spanish missionaries from Castro in Chilóe to
the lake of San Rafael, isthmus of Ofqui, and archipelago of islands
in latitude 48-9° S. I thought another copy might be found at Lima,
but during my subsequent stay there, not one could be discovered.
The town of Valdivia, formerly dignified by the appellation of city,
disappointed our party extremely. It proved to be no more than a
strangling village of wooden houses, surrounded with apple-trees;
and the only building, even partially constructed of stone, was a
church.[4] Many of us were in the town on the 20th of February,
at the time of that great earthquake, which ruined so many places
besides the city of Concepcion: an awful event, which will be related
in the following pages.
An English carpenter, who had served on board the Beagle, in 1828,
but had since settled on the banks of the river Cruces, about thirty
miles from Valdivia, came on board his old ship one day, to see
those whom he knew. It happened that I had formerly been of some
assistance to him, and he was naturally glad to oblige me, by giving
such information about the country and the natives as he was able to
impart; and having lived nearly four years among them, his accounts
were not only interesting, but, I think, worthy of credence.[5]
As some of these were confirmed by what I heard from residents at
Valdivia, and I have no doubt of their truth, I shall mention them
without hesitation in the course of my narrative.
I was much struck by the peculiar physiognomy of those aboriginal
natives whom I saw during my stay: and there must have been some
ground for Mr. Darwin and myself remarking at different times,
unknown at first to one another, that their countenances reminded
us of portraits of Charles I. This was my impression at the first
glance; but after closer examination it wore off, and I thought less
of that likeness than I did of their resemblance to the Hindoo race.
There was neither the open honesty of a Patagonian, nor the brutal
look of most Fuegians; but there was a sombre cast of depressed
intelligence that at once said, “we are restrained, but not
subdued.” Their countenances were less wide, and more swarthy, than
those to which our eyes had been accustomed; and they eyed us with
a sinister although resolute glance, which seemed to ask whether we
were also come to try for a share of their country. These men were
of a middle stature; and formed more slightly than those of the
south. They were all tolerably clothed in blue cloth of their own
manufacture; and the men of different tribes were distinguished by a
slight difference in dress; the Juncos, who live south of Valdivia,
wearing a sort of petticoat, instead of trowsers, while the Rancos,
another subdivision, wore short loose breeches. In other respects
they are similar, as to outward appearance, and their language is
that of all southern Chile.[6] These Juncos and Rancos are but
portions of that collection of tribes usually known among Europeans
by the celebrated name of Araucanians; but among the natives, by
the terms Molu-che, Huilli-che, &c. I certainly gazed at these
Indians with excessive interest, while I reflected on the multiplied
sufferings undergone by their ancestors--the numbers that perished
in mines--or in trying to defend their country--and the insidious
attempts made to thin their numbers by frequent intoxication, if not
by introducing deadly disease.[7]
[Illustration: TOWN SEEN ACROSS THE RIVER.
OLD LOOK-OUT TOWER.
VALDIVIA.
_P. G. King_ _T. Landseer_
Published by Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street, 1838.]
To keep these Indians on peaceable terms, and in order to have early
intelligence of any general combination, the Chilians maintain among
them ‘capitanes de los amigos,’ whose apparent office is to take
the part of an Indian, if he should be ill-treated by a Chilian (of
Spanish descent), and to interpret between parties who wish to barter
goods. There is also a ‘comisario de los Indios,’ who is a centre of
reference for the ‘capitanes,’ and who ought to be the friend and
protector of the aborigines. Many tribes, however, will have nothing
to say to either the commissary or his captains, seeing through
their object, and detesting even the descendant of a Spaniard too
deeply to admit any one of that abhorred race into their territory.
About Valdivia there are only a few leagues of ground held by Chile,
excepting which all that magnificent tract of country, reaching from
the Gulf of Ancud nearly to the river Bio-Bio, probably the finest
district in all South America, is still kept by the brave Araucanians.
These Indians are extremely superstitious, but in their rites there
are curious customs, perhaps indicative of their origin. About
Valdivia, whenever an aboriginal and heathen native dies, he is
buried in a small canoe, with a scanty supply of provisions and
chicha,[8] on the bank of a river which flows to the sea. Their idea
is that the spirit goes by water to that place, in the direction of
the setting sun, whence their remote ancestors came. Febrés says, in
his work before mentioned, that the island Mocha is the place meant:
but if we reflect that Mocha is very small, only twenty miles from
the mainland, and that when first discovered, early in the sixteenth
century, it was inhabited by Indians who often crossed over to the
continent, I think we must look much farther west for the place of
departed souls to which these people refer.
The aborigines who live near volcanoes offer propitiatory sacrifices
to the evil spirit, Pillan, who is said to cause earthquakes and
eruptions. They sacrifice bulls and rams to him, besides offering
fruit, vegetables, and chicha. On a mountain called Theghin, or
Theg-theghin, (which means to crackle or sparkle like fire), these
people say that their early progenitors escaped from the Deluge.
There is a word in common use among them, meaning ‘the great
ancestor,’ or ‘our great ancestors,’ or ‘the renowned,’ which is
hardly to be distinguished from Shem. Febrés spells it ‘Them,’ but,
as the th is frequently pronounced, it would sound like chem.[9] Can
this be handed down from their ancestor of the Ark?[10]
Another word that attracted my notice particularly, was ‘minga.’
I have a note by me (unfortunately without the proper reference)
remarking the resemblance of minga, not only in sound but in
meaning, to the Hebrew word mincha. Molina (p. 333) says that these
people have a nasal g, which brings the two words to an identity of
sound. The Hebrew term, I am told, means an offering or collection of
fruits, liquors, &c.; and the corresponding Huilli-che word means a
feast of which those partake who are about to unite in a work for the
benefit of him who makes the ‘minga.’ In the Appendix a few Greek,
Latin, and Araucanian words are arranged so as to show the remarkable
similarity existing between them.
I was told by the Yntendente that some Englishmen had arrived in his
district a few months before we came, whose character and business
he did not understand. Rumours had reached his ears of their having
escaped from one of our convict settlements, at the other side of the
Pacific, and he was inclined to believe the report. Three of these
men had married since their arrival, and all but one were industrious
members of his community: indeed I saw two of them hard at work on a
boat belonging to the Yntendente. Having however no proof of their
delinquency, I did not deem myself authorized to ask him to have them
arrested and delivered up to me, in order that I might convey them to
the senior British officer at Valparaiso. Afterwards I learned that
these men, seven or eight in number, had escaped from Van Diemen’s
land in a very small vessel, and sailing always eastward, had at last
arrived on the coast near Valdivia, whence they were conducted by a
fisherman into the port. Eventually they were made prisoners by the
Chilian authorities, delivered up to our Commodore, and by him sent
to England.
I was informed that there is coal in many places about Valdivia; but
I did not see any. We sailed on the 22d, after receiving, on all
occasions, the kindest treatment from the residents.
As we passed along the low coast about the river Tolten, numbers
of Indians on horseback, and armed with lances, were seen riding
along the shore, evidently watching our movements. This part of the
coast is shoal, and at night would be dangerous, for the low land
projects considerably, and would not then be readily seen. We could
not distinguish the mouths of either the Tolten or the Imperial (or
Cauten) quite satisfactorily, but as they are bar rivers--useless
to shipping--I would not risk anchoring on so exposed a coast, or
sending a boat away into such a surf as we saw breaking, without
having more time at my disposal and a higher object in view.
On the Cauten was the city called Imperial--celebrated in Araucanian
story--and near its site now live the Boroa tribe, some of whom have
light-coloured eyes, fair complexions, and even red hair. I saw one
of these Indians at Valdivia, who had blue eyes, but dark hair. She
told me that in her own country, ‘Boroa,’ there were many with eyes
like her’s; that some were ‘rubios,’ that is, of a red and white
complexion, and that a few had red hair. Her parents had told her,
she said, that those people were descended from the ‘Huincas.’[11]
How the red hair originated is rather curious; I have heard of it
from good authorities at other times, while in Chile.
Late on the 24th we anchored at Mocha, and the following week was
occupied in surveying its shores and the space between them and
the mainland.[12] Shocks of earthquakes were frequently felt, more
or less severely; sometimes I thought that the anchor had been
accidentally let go, and the chain was running out; and while at
anchor, I often fancied the ship was driving, till I saw that there
was neither swell, current, nor wind sufficient to move her from
the anchorage. We naturally concluded that some strange convulsion
was working, and anxious for the fate of Concepcion, hastened to
Talcahuano Bay as soon as our duty would allow: arriving there on the
4th of March--to our dismay--we saw ruins in every direction.
The following account of this catastrophe was subsequently obtained:--
At ten in the morning of the 20th of February, very large flights
of sea-fowl were noticed, passing over the city of Concepcion,
from the sea-coast, towards the interior: and in the minds of old
inhabitants, well acquainted with the climate of Concepcion, some
surprise was excited by so unusual and simultaneous a change in
the habits of those birds,[13] no signs of an approaching storm
being visible, nor any expected at that season. About eleven, the
southerly breeze[14] freshened up as usual--the sky was clear, and
almost cloudless. At forty minutes after eleven,[15] a shock of an
earthquake was felt, slightly at first, but increasing rapidly.
During the first half minute, many persons remained in their houses;
but then the convulsive movements were so strong, that the alarm
became general, and they all rushed into open spaces for safety. The
horrid motion increased; people could hardly stand; buildings waved
and tottered--suddenly an awful overpowering shock caused universal
destruction--and in less than six seconds the city was in ruins. The
stunning noise of falling houses; the horrible cracking of the earth,
which opened and shut rapidly and repeatedly in numerous places;[16]
the desperate heart-rending outcries of the people; the stifling
heat; the blinding, smothering clouds of dust; the utter helplessness
and confusion; and the extreme horror and alarm, can neither be
described nor fully imagined.
This fatal convulsion took place about a minute and a half or two
minutes after the first shock; and it lasted for nearly two minutes,
with equal violence. During this time no one could stand unsupported;
people clung to each other, to trees, or to posts. Some threw
themselves on the ground; but there the motion was so violent that
they were obliged to stretch out their arms on each side, to prevent
being tossed over and over. The poultry flew about screaming wildly.
Horses and other animals were greatly frightened, standing with their
legs spread out, and their heads down, trembling excessively.
After the most violent shock ceased, the clouds of dust which had
been raised by falling buildings, began to disperse; people breathed
more freely, and dared to look around them. Ghastly and sepulchral
was the sight. Had the graves opened and given up their dead,
their appearance could scarcely have been more shocking. Pale and
trembling, covered with dust and perspiration, they ran from place to
place, calling for relations and friends; and many seemed to be quite
bereft of reason.
Considerable shocks continued to harass and alarm at short intervals.
The earth was never long quiet during that or the next day, nor
indeed for the three days following the great shock; and during
many hours after the ruin, it was tremulous, and the shocks were
very frequent, though not severe. Many of these, but not all, were
preceded by a rumbling, subterranean noise, like distant thunder.
Some compared the sound to the distant discharge of many pieces
of artillery. These noises came from the south-west quarter, and
preceded the shock by one or two seconds; sometimes, but not often,
the sound was unaccompanied by any shock.
It was the general opinion that the motion was from south-west to
north-east. Some whole walls, whose direction was south-east and
north-west, were laid flat, the bricks still maintaining their
relative position, though end-wise, without being scattered upon the
ground. These walls fell, without exception, to the north-east.[17]
Others were scattered as they fell; but still the greatest masses
of brick-work were thrown towards the north-east. Walls standing
in the opposite direction, north-east and south-west, suffered far
less: none fell bodily or in masses; fragments were shaken or torn
off; and some of the walls were very much cracked,[18] but others
suffered little. Houses built of ‘adobes,’[19] became confused heaps,
and roofs fell in every where. The cathedral, whose walls were four
feet in thickness, supported by great buttresses, and built of good
brick and mortar,[20] suffered more than other buildings. Adhering
to the remains of the walls were left the lower parts of some
buttresses--the upper parts of others--while in one place a buttress
stood on its own foundation, separated entirely from the wall.
[Illustration:
_J. C. Wickham._ _S. Bull._
REMAINS OF THE CATHEDRAL AT CONCEPCION.
RUINED BY THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF 1835.
Published by Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street, 1838.]
The city of Concepcion stands upon a plain, very little higher than
the level of the river Bio Bio. The soil is loose and alluvial.
To the eastward and northward lie rocky irregular hills: from the
foot of which the loose earth was every where parted by the great
convulsion, large cracks being left, from an inch to more than a foot
in width. It seemed as if the low land had been separated from the
hills, having been more disturbed by the shock.
Women washing in the river near Concepcion were startled by the
sudden rise of the water--from their ankles to their knees--and
at the same moment felt the beginning of the convulsion. It was
said that the dogs avoided the ruin, by running away before it
occurred. This, though known with certainty to have been the case at
Talcahuano, wants confirmation with respect to Concepcion. Of nine
men who were repairing the inside of a church, seven were killed, and
two severely hurt. One of these poor fellows was half-buried in the
ruins, during five days, with a dead body lying across him, through
which it was necessary to cut, for his release. A mother, escaping
with her children, saw one fall into a hole; a wall close to her was
tottering; she pushed a piece of wood across the hole, and ran on;
the wall fell, covering the hole with masses of brick-work; but, next
day, the child was taken out unhurt. Another woman missed a child;
saw that a high wall was tottering, but ran for her son, and brought
him out. As she crossed the street, the wall fell, but they were
safe; when the tremendous crash came, the whole street, which she had
just crossed, was filled up with part of the ruins of the cathedral.
Besides a waving or undulatory movement, vertical, horizontal, and
circular or twisting motions were felt. An angular stone pinnacle was
particularly noticed, which had been turned half round, without being
thrown down, or leaving its base.
Persons riding at the time of the great shock, were stopped
short; some, with their horses, were thrown to the ground: others
dismounted, but could not stand. So little was the ground at rest
after the great destruction, that between the 20th of February and
the 4th of March, more than three hundred shocks were counted.
Much misery was alleviated by the good conduct and extreme
hospitality of the inhabitants of Concepcion. Mutual assistance
was every where rendered, and theft was almost unknown. The higher
classes immediately set people to work, to build straw-covered huts
and temporary houses of board, living meanwhile in the open air under
trees. Those who soonest obtained or contrived shelter, collected
as many about them as they could assist, and in a very few days all
had a temporary shelter, under which they tried to laugh at their
misfortunes and the shifts to which they were reduced.
At Talcahuano the great earthquake was felt as severely on the 20th
February as in the city of Concepcion. It took place at the same
time, and in a precisely similar manner: three houses only, upon a
rocky foundation, escaped the fate of all those standing upon the
loose sandy soil, which lies between the sea-beach and the hills.
Nearly all the inhabitants escaped uninjured; but they had scarcely
recovered from the sensations of the ruinous shocks, when an alarm
was given that the sea was retiring! Penco[21] was not forgotten;
apprehensive of an overwhelming wave, they hurried to the hills as
fast as possible.
About half an hour after the shock, when the greater part of the
population had reached the heights,--the sea having retired so much,
that all the vessels at anchor, even those which had been lying in
seven fathoms water, were aground, and every rock and shoal in the
bay was visible,--an enormous wave was seen forcing its way through
the western passage which separates Quiriquina Island from the
mainland. This terrific swell passed rapidly along the western side
of the Bay of Concepcion, sweeping the steep shores of every thing
moveable within thirty feet (vertically) from high-water mark. It
broke over, dashed along, and whirled about the shipping as if they
had been light boats; overflowed the greater part of the town, and
then rushed back with such a torrent that every moveable which the
earthquake had not buried under heaps of ruins was carried out to
sea. In a few minutes, the vessels were again aground, and a second
great wave was seen approaching, with more noise and impetuosity than
the first; but though this was more powerful, its effects were not so
considerable--simply because there was less to destroy. Again the sea
fell, dragging away quantities of woodwork and the lighter materials
of houses, and leaving the shipping aground.
After some minutes of awful suspense, a third enormous swell was seen
between Quiriquina and the mainland, apparently larger than either
of the two former. Roaring as it dashed against every obstacle with
irresistible force, it rushed--destroying and overwhelming--along the
shore. Quickly retiring, as if spurned by the foot of the hills, the
retreating wave dragged away such quantities of household effects,
fences, furniture, and other moveables, that after the tumultuous
rush was over, the sea appeared to be covered with wreck. Earth
and water trembled: and exhaustion appeared to follow these mighty
efforts.
Numbers of the inhabitants then hastened to the ruins, anxious to
ascertain the extent of their losses, and to save some money, or a
few valuable articles, which, having escaped the sweep of the sea,
were exposed to depredators.[22]
During the remainder of the day, and the following night, the earth
was not quiet many minutes at a time. Frequent, almost incessant
tremors, occasional shocks more or less severe, and distant
subterranean noises, kept every one in anxious suspense. Some thought
the crisis had not arrived, and would not descend from the hills
into the ruined town. Those who were searching among the ruins,
started at every shock, however slight, and almost doubted that the
sea was not actually rushing in again to overwhelm them. Nearly all
the inhabitants, excepting a few who went on board vessels in the
harbour, passed the night upon the hills, without shelter: and next
day they began to raise sheds and huts upon the high grounds, still
dreading the sea. It was said, and generally considered certain, that
every dog at Talcahuano had left the town before the shock, which
ruined the buildings, was felt.
Without explanation it appears astonishing how the shipping escaped
destruction. There were three large whale-ships, a bark, two brigs,
and a schooner, very near the town, in from four to seven fathoms
water: they were lying at single anchor,[23] with a good scope of
cable:[24] one only was well moored.
With the southerly breeze, which was rather fresh at the time of the
earthquake, these vessels lay to seaward[25] of their anchors, having
their sterns towards the sea; and were left aground in this position.
The captain of the port, D. Pablo Delano, was on board one of the
whale ships at the time, with the hatches battened down, and dead
lights shipped. All hands took to the rigging for safety. The first
great wave came in an unbroken swell to the stern of the vessel,
broke over and lifted her along without doing any material harm, more
than sweeping her decks: and the slack chain dragging over the mud
checked her gradually, as the first impetus of the wave diminished.
Whirling her round, the water rushed out to seaward again, leaving
the vessel stranded nearly in her former position. From two fathoms,
when aground, the depth alongside increased to ten, as the water rose
highest during the last swell. The two latter waves approached, and
affected the shipping similarly to the former: all withstood their
force, though the light anchors were dragged. Some of the vessels
were thrown violently against others; and whirled around as if they
had been in the vortex of a whirlpool. Previous to the rush of
waters, the Paulina and Orion, two merchantmen, were lying a full
cable’s length apart; and after it had passed they were side by side,
with three round turns in their cables. Each vessel had therefore
gone round the other with each wave: the bow of one was stove in:
to the other little damage was done. A small vessel[26] was on the
stocks, almost ready for launching; she was carried by the sea two
hundred yards in-shore, and left there unhurt. A little schooner, at
anchor before the town, slipped her cable, and ran out in the offing
as the water fell. She met the wave, unbroken, and rose over it as
an ordinary swell. The Colocolo[27] was under sail near the eastern
entrance of the bay--she likewise met the wave, as a large swell,
without inconvenience.
Many boats[28] put off from the shore before the sea retired: some
met the advancing waves before they broke, and rose safely over them;
others, half swamped, struggled through the breakers. The fate of one
little boy was extraordinary. A servant woman had taken refuge with
him in a boat; the boat was dashed against an anchor, lying on the
shore, and divided. The woman was drowned, but the half of the boat
containing the child[29] was carried out into the bay. It floated,
and the boy held firmly. He was picked up afterwards, sitting
upright, holding steadily with both hands, wet and cold, but unhurt.
The boy’s name is Hodges: his father is an Englishman, well known at
Talcahuano, and was an officer in the British navy.
For several days the sea was strewed with wreck; not only in the
Bay of Concepcion, but outside, in the offing. The shores of
Quiriquina Island were covered with broken furniture and wood work
of all kinds; so much so, that for weeks afterwards, parties were
constantly at work collecting and bringing back property. During
three days succeeding that of the ruin the sea ebbed and flowed
irregularly, and very frequently: rising and falling for some hours
after the shock two or three times in an hour. Eastward of the island
of Quiriquina the swell was neither so large nor so powerful as
that which swept over Talcahuano. Having more room to expend its
strength in the wider and deeper part of the bay may perhaps have
been the reason why the sea swelled rapidly, without breaking, near
Lirquen, in the south-east part of the bay; and why it broke over
Tomé[30] with violence, though not so furiously as over Talcahuano.
The great waves, coming from the sea, appear to have been divided,
at the entrance of Concepcion Bay, by the island of Quiriquina, and
turned aside both ways, one part taking its course along the Tumbes,
or western shore, towards Talcahuano; the other across the eastern
opening, towards Tomé. While the bay of Concepcion was agitated by
the great waves, it was noticed by Captain Walford (from his house
at Lirquen), that the Colocolo was swept to and fro remarkably. She
was under sail near the eastern entrance of the bay. Two explosions,
or eruptions, were witnessed while the waves were coming in. One in
the offing, beyond the island of Quiriquina, was seen by Mr. Henry
Burdon and his family, who were then embarked in a large boat, near
Tomé; it appeared to be a dark column of smoke, in shape like a
tower. Another rose in the middle of the bay of San Vicente, like
the blowing of an immense imaginary whale: its disappearance was
followed by a whirlpool which lasted some minutes: it was hollow,
and tended to a point in the middle, as if the sea was pouring into
a cavity of the earth. At the time of the ruin, and until after the
great waves, the water in the bay appeared to be every where boiling;
bubbles of air, or gas, were rapidly escaping; the water also became
black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous smell. Dead fish
were afterwards thrown ashore in quantities; they seemed to have
been poisoned, or suffocated; and for days together the shores of
the bay were covered with fine corvinos, and numerous small fish.
Black stinking water burst up from the earth, in several places; and
in Mr. Evans’s yard, at Talcahuano, the ground swelled like a large
bubble, then bursting, poured forth black, fetid, sulphureous water.
Near Concepcion similar outbursts of water were seen, and similarly
described.
By a marked part of the wall of Captain Delano’s house, it was
ascertained that the body of water reached twenty-five feet above
the usual level of high water. It penetrated into the ‘altos,’[31]
and left sea-weed hanging to the remains of roofs, or to the tops of
broken walls. But this must not be taken as the general height of
the wave. A body of water, rushing upon a sloping beach with such
force, would naturally preserve its impetus for some time, and run up
the inclined plane, to a great height. Those who watched the waves
coming in, considered them, while beyond the shipping, about as high
as the upper part of the hull of a frigate; or from sixteen to twenty
feet above the level of the rest of the water in the bay. Only those
parts of the wave which encountered opposition broke, until within
half a mile of the beach, when the roar became appalling. Persons
who were standing on the heights, overlooking both bays, saw the sea
come swelling into San Vicente at the same time that it advanced upon
Talcahuano. The explosion in San Vicente, and the sea advancing from
both sides, made them think that the peninsula of Tumbes was about to
be separated from the main land, and many ran up the hills until they
had reached the very highest point.
Strange extremes of injury and harmlessness were among the effects of
these overwhelming waves. Buildings were levelled, heavy twenty-four
pound guns were moved some yards, and upset; yet a child was carried
to sea uninjured; and window-frames, with the glass in them, were
thrown ashore upon the island of Quiriquina without a pane being
broken! According to a register, kept by Captain Delano, it appears
that his barometer fell four or five tenths of an inch between the
seventeenth and eighteenth of February, and was still falling on the
morning of the eighteenth, after which it rose again. So great[32]
and sudden a fall, not followed by bad weather, may have been
connected with the cause of the earthquake; but some doubt hangs
over these observations. The barometers on board the Beagle, at that
time in Valdivia, did not indicate any change. Still, at so great a
distance, it does not follow that the mercury should move similarly;
and (notwithstanding doubts excited by persons at Concepcion who
had frequently looked at Captain Delano’s barometer,) I am hardly
inclined to disbelieve the extract from his register which he gave me.
In a river near Lirquen, a woman was washing clothes at the time of
the great shock. The water rose instantaneously, from her feet half
way up her legs; and then subsided gradually to its usual level.
It became very muddy at the same time. On the sea-beach the water
swelled up to high-water mark, at the time of the shock, without
having previously retired. It then began to retire, and continued
falling about half an hour, before a great wave was seen approaching.
For some days after the devastation the sea did not rise to its
usual marks, by four or five feet vertically. Some thought the land
had been elevated, but the common and prevailing idea was, that the
sea had retired. This alteration gradually diminished, till, in the
middle of April, there was a difference of only two feet between the
existing, and former high-water marks. The proof that the land had
been raised exists in the fact, that the island of Santa Maria was
upheaved some feet more than other places.
In going through the narrow passage which separates Quiriquina from
Tumbes, the great waves had swept the steep shores to a height of
thirty feet (vertically) above high-water mark; but this elevation
was attained, in all probability, only at the sides of the passage,
where the water met with more obstruction, and therefore washed up
higher. That passage is nearly one mile in width, and has ten fathoms
water in the middle; but the rocks on the western side diminish its
navigable width to half a mile.
Wherever the invading waves found low land, the destruction was
great, from those lands being in general well cultivated, and
the site of many houses. The low grounds lying at the bottom of
Concepcion Bay, particularly those of the Isla de los Reyes, were
overflowed, and injured irreparably: quantities of cattle, horses,
and sheep were lost. Similar effects, in an equal or less degree,
were felt on the coasts between the river Itata, and Cape Rumena.
Large masses of earth and stone, many thousand tons in weight, were
detached from the cliffs, and precipitous sides of the hills. It
was dangerous to go near the edge of a cliff, for numerous chasms,
and cracks in every direction, showed how doubtful was the support.
When walking on the shore, even at high-water, beds of dead muscles,
numerous chitons and limpets, and withered sea-weed, still adhering,
though lifeless, to the rocks on which they had lived, every where
met the eye--proofs of the upheaval of the land.
Besides suffering from the effects of the earthquake and three
invading waves, which, coming from the west round both points of
the island, united to overflow the low ground near the village,
Santa Maria was upheaved nine feet. It appeared that the southern
extreme of the island was raised eight feet, the middle nine, and
the northern end upwards of ten feet. The Beagle visited this
island twice--at the end of March and in the beginning of April:
at her first visit it was concluded, from the visible evidence of
dead shell-fish, water-marks, and soundings, and from the verbal
testimony of the inhabitants, that the land had been raised about
eight feet. However, on returning to Concepcion, doubts were raised;
and to settle the matter beyond dispute, one of the owners of the
island, Don S. Palma, accompanied us the second time. An intelligent
Hanoverian, whose occupation upon this island was sealing, and who
had lived two years there and knew its shores thoroughly, was also
passenger in the Beagle.
When we landed, the Hanoverian, whose name was Anthony Vogelborg,
showed me a spot from which he used formerly to gather ‘choros,’[33]
by diving for them at low tide. At dead low water, standing upon the
bed of ‘choros,’ and holding his hands up above his head, he could
not reach the surface of the water: his height is six feet. On that
spot, when I was there, the ‘choros’ were barely covered at high
spring-tide.
Riding round the island afterwards, with Don Salvador and Vogelborg,
I took many measures in places where no mistake could be made.
On large steep-sided rocks, where vertical measures could be
correctly taken, beds of dead muscles were found ten feet above the
recent high-water mark. A few inches only above what was then the
spring-tide high-water mark, were putrid shell-fish and sea-weed,
which evidently had not been wetted since the upheaval of the land.
One foot lower than the highest bed of muscles, a few limpets and
chitons were adhering to the rock where they had grown. Two feet
lower than the same muscles, chitons and limpets were abundant.
An extensive rocky flat lies around the northern parts of Santa
Maria. Before the earthquake this was covered by the sea, some
projecting rocks only showing themselves: after it, the whole surface
was exposed; and square acres (or many quadras) of the rocky flat
were covered with dead shell-fish, the stench arising from which was
abominable. By this elevation of the land the southern port of Santa
Maria was almost destroyed: there remained but little shelter, and
very bad landing: the soundings having diminished a fathom and a half
every where around the island.
At Tubul, to the south-east of Santa Maria, the land was raised six
feet. The waves did not enter that river’s mouth until about one
o’clock; and then in greater number, but with less force, six or
seven having been counted. Might not this be owing to the meeting of
the divisions of the great wave which passed around Santa Maria.
At the island of Mocha the shock of the earthquake was so strong that
people could not stand. The sea washed over the rocks at the end
of the island, higher than it had ever reached in a heavy gale of
wind. Anthony Vogelborg was on one of those rocks, or rather on an
islet at the south end of Mocha, at the time, with a party who were
sealing. Their boat was hauled up on the top of the rocky islet, and,
expecting to be washed off, they held by it in readiness. The boat
was lying nearly east and west. During the earthquake some water in
her bottom ran as fast from one end of the boat to the other as if
some one were quickly lifting one end off the ground and letting it
down again. It did not wash from side to side at any time. Two forked
sticks were stuck in the ground, about three yards apart; another lay
across them for hanging things to dry. These sticks also were nearly
east and west of one another: and during the shock they waved to and
fro till the forks touched, and the cross stick fell. Strong shocks
were felt by vessels under sail near Mocha; and between Mocha and
Concepcion, the same was experienced by several vessels, not only on
the 20th, but during following days.
At anchor off Mocha on the 24th, a shock was felt by me, which
resembled the sudden dragging of the anchor over rocks. Under way on
the 2d of March, it was thought that a chain-cable was running out at
the hawse. In one vessel they supposed she had run ashore: on board
of another, that the ship had passed over a whale. Vogelborg thought
that the land had been upheaved about two feet; and from his accuracy
in other matters, I am inclined to trust to his opinion.
At Valdivia the shock began gently, increased gradually during two
minutes, was at its strongest about one minute, and then diminished.
The motion was undulating and regular, like waves rolling from
west to east, but strong; and it lasted nearly ten minutes. There
was no difficulty in standing or walking, but the houses waved and
cracked. The stone church tottered, but was not injured; its roof
was very light. All the dwelling-houses being strongly built of
wood, withstood the shock. Most people thought the motion was from
south-west to north-east, but Mr. Darwin and a person with him at the
time, thought the reverse.
The river increased, or rose, at the same time, and rapidly fell
again to its former height. In the port the sea swelled suddenly upon
the shore to high-water mark, though it was then nearly the time of
low-water, and quickly fell again. Both sea and river rose and fell
frequently during the remainder of the day. The river never fell
below its usual height, neither did the sea retire beyond its proper
place, at that time of tide; but each swelled from time to time and
again sunk down. This happened once or twice in an hour. After the
great convulsion, other slighter shocks occurred at intervals of a
few minutes during an hour. In the afternoon, at about five, a smart
shock was felt, which made the people run out of their houses.[34]
One man and one woman were drowned by the sudden rise of the sea
near Niebla: it was supposed that they were upon the rocks gathering
shell-fish. Excepting in this instance, no injury was done at
Valdivia. No noise preceded or accompanied any of the shocks.[35]
This great earthquake extended to the island of Chilóe, and probably
still farther to the southward. The shock was there slight, but
lasted during six or eight minutes; it was neither preceded nor
followed by any subterranean noise. At about thirty-four minutes
after eleven,[36] the beginning of the shock was felt. The motion was
undulating and not strong. The swell of the sea was felt there, but
I know not at what time. A man was going to leave the shore[37] in
his boat; he went a short distance to fetch something, and returning
found the boat aground and immoveable: puzzled and vexed he went
away, but had not gone many yards before his son called to him that
it was afloat.
In the small port of Coliumo, close to the northward of Concepcion
Bay, the waves rose about as high as at Tomé, nearly fourteen feet
before they reached the shore. The little village of Dichato shared
the general calamity; but, standing rather higher and more distant
from the sea than Talcahuano, it escaped the ravages of that element.
At the mouth of the Maule the force and height of the waves must have
been considerably diminished; for no particular effect was noticed at
the time, nor were there any marks upon the shore by which the height
of the wave could be afterwards ascertained. That the sea should not
there have occupied attention is not surprising, when one considers
the locality of La Constitucion, as the port and town are called.
On level low land, at the south side of the river, lies the town;
between which and the sea there is high land, and a distance of about
a mile. The river winds round the northern promontory of the high
land, and then fights its way to sea over a bar, on which there are
always breakers. There are no houses on the sea-shore; and, without
going half a-mile up the hill, the sea cannot be seen; naturally
then, for some time after the town was ruined by the earthquake, the
inhabitants would be engaged in saving and sheltering their property,
rather than looking at the ocean. I could not ascertain whether the
river had risen or not: and having previously heard that the waves
were very powerful at the mouth of the Maule, I was a good deal
surprised to find they had been almost unnoticed: but all attention
seemed to have been engrossed with the earthquake.
A vessel, lying close under the promontory mentioned above, was
obliged to move as quickly as possible, when the shocks began, so
serious was the shower of stones which rattled down the hill and
fell about, and on board of her. I was assured by the governor, by
the chief pilot, and by other residents, that instead of the land
having been elevated at all, they considered that it had sunk about
two feet. The pilot said he had found two feet more water on the bar,
since the great shock, and that he was certain the banks of the river
were 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.[38] 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 Chilóe and Copiapó:
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. Copiapó, 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
Fernandes suffered, yet Valparaiso, opposite, escaped uninjured.
As to the state of neighbouring volcanoes, so various were the
accounts of their action, both after and before the earthquake, 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.[39]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] We had three sextants, made for me by Worthington, which had
additional horizon glasses, enabling them to measure any angle less
than 160°. The contrivance was my own, and found to answer. It is
described in the Appendix.
[2] Called “Los Llanos,” or the plains.
[3] On which is the town of Valdivia.
[4] That church and other edifices have since been laid in ruins by
the violent earthquake of Nov. 7, 1837.
[5] He was a very intelligent, observing man, and a good workman:
while belonging to the Beagle, he was rated carpenter’s mate.
[6] The Huilli-che.
[7] By giving them infected things.
[8] Fermented liquor made from maize, apples, or other substances.
[9] Molina, Hist. Civil de Chile. Vol. ii. p. 333. Falkner says that
the Vuta Huilli-che substitute t for ch, p. 99.
[10] I am informed by Doctor Andrew Smith, that the word Ham is still
common among the nations of southern Africa, as a distinguishing
appellation.
[11] An Araucanian name for the Spaniards, signifying assassins.
[12] I shall recur to Mocha again.
[13] Chiefly gulls.
[14] Sea-breeze.
[15] Mean time. Equation = 14 m. subtractive from mean time.
[16] The direction of these cracks was not uniform, though generally
south-east and north-west.
[17] The streets of Concepcion lie north-east and south-west:
north-west and south-east.
[18] Vertically, as if by the undulatory movement of the earth’s
surface in the direction of their length.
[19] Large unbaked bricks.
[20] Both bricks and mortar were excellent.
[21] Penco, the first Spanish capital of the province of Concepcion,
was overwhelmed by the sea in 1730: and old Concepcion in 1751.
[22] Thieves were numerous in Talcahuano. Directly after the ruin
these scoundrels set to work--though crying ‘Misericordia,’ and
with one hand beating their breast--with the other they stole most
industriously.
[23] Or steadied by a second anchor which was too light to withstand
any great strain.
[24] Chain.--The holding-ground is excellent, a soft, tenacious mud.
[25] Nearly half a cable’s length; or from sixty to one hundred yards.
[26] About thirty tons.
[27] Chilian schooner of war.
[28] Chiefly, if not all, whale-boats.
[29] Only four years old.
[30] Tomé is near the eastern entrance of the bay, where the
wave would meet with more interruption than near Lirquen, though
considerably less than in the western passage.
[31] First floor rooms.
[32] In Concepcion a fall of two or three tenths indicates bad
weather; four or five tenths a gale of wind, with much rain.
[33] A large kind of muscle.
[34] Although built of wood.
[35] (Valdivia has since been ruined).
“Valdivia, Nov. 7, de 1837.
“El gran terremoto que ha esperimentado este pueblo en la mañana de
este dia, sin tocar los limites de la exajeracion, se puede asegurar
sea el mayor de los hasta aqui acontecidos. Dió principio a las 8 y
5 minutos; y terminó a las 8 y quarto: advirtiendo que el movimiento
de la tierra en este espacio de tiempo fué tan extraordinario que
con dificultad podia un hombre sostenerse en pié. Continuó en
seguida hasta las 9 y media con interrupcion solo de momentos, y
desde esa hora hasta las 12 y tres cuartos que son actualmente se
esperimentan los mismos movimientos, aunque no con igual fuerza. Las
dos unicas iglesias que habia en este pueblo, y todos los edificios
fiscales, se han arruinado completamente y si no les ha caido igual
suerte a las demas casas de esta poblacion ha contribuido sin duda
la circumstancia de ser ellas de madera, aunque por lo general han
sufrido grande detrimento.
“ISIDRO VERGARA.”
“Al S^r. Ynt^e. de la prov. de Concepcion, Dn. Manuel
Búlnes.”--Extracted from the ‘Araucano’ of Chile, Dec. 8, 1837.
[36] Mean time (exact?).
[37] Point Arena--San Carlos.
[38] 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.
[39] Of another earthquake the “Araucano,” of Dec. 8, 1837, states as
follows:
“Talcahuano, Nov. 7, 1837.
“Fué bastante recio y duró como cuatro o cinco minutos, con la
particularidad notable de haberse advertido un pequeño retroceso de
la mar á cia su centro en Talcahuano, y haber quedado interrumpido
por algunos dias el flujo y reflujo de sus aguas.”